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We Saw a Grate Smoke Raise Up: Letters, Diaries, Wires from the Valley of the Late Rebellion

1862 Jackson’s Valley Campaign diary my 2x grandfather wrote on the field each night. For now, there is no regimental history of the PA. 110^th. So this is what I’ve found so far. The PA. 110^th Vols. is on the cover of James McPherson’s The War that Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters (Falmouth, VA., 4/24/63): https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-m-mcpherson/the-war-that-forged-a-nation/

A wind can come. It’s an ill wind. We are now 16 decades removed from that wind. The Wind Done Gone. At some point, I’ll write a proper introduction to the manuscript, which will show up, aptly enough, in a post titled “Introduction.” If all goes according to plan, for the next 128 days I’ll be posting my grandfather’s diary entries to coincide with the 160^th anniversary of the days he wrote each entry, from March 1 to July 5, 1862. No guarantees. Best taken in tiny doses, day by day. Prepare to move constantly forward & backward in time for elaboration, foreshadowing, retrospection, & to be in present 1860s Civil War time as it happens.

This manuscript concerns the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. My great-great grandfather Ephraim joined the PA. 110th Vol., Co. D, in December, 1861 as the Hospital Steward (later made Captain). He wrote about, & amputated his way through, this entire campaign, never once skipping a day from March 1 to July 5^th. The campaign itself ends June 9^th when Jackson moves up into the Blue Ridge, now in control of the entire upper and middle Shenandoah Valley, & free to join Lee in front of Richmond, which diverts Lincoln’s planned Richmond assault. For now. This period– “Jackson’s Valley Campaign”– is possibly the most famous of the war, the most studied by military tactics scholars, yet simultaneously the least written about in terms of civilian life.

Back East, right now, most of the war’s fighting takes place in a narrow corridor between D.C. and Richmond, a distance of about 100–120 miles, a taut swath of land between two cities that looms far larger in our minds than it is. It is a paper-thin winter ¼ moon solstice shape. In the mixture of large bones & small, if you squint, you see figures on the ground, figures of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights. It’s all still there. If you take I-95, it’s 108.7 miles. You could bike it in a few days. Walk that in a week. Drive it in a hour, plus change. In a jet, a few minutes. A star can cross it in no time. Lincoln & Davis were born 120 miles apart. 

This is not a Shenandoah Valley Campaign field manual. This is a story about that 78 day period, an artistic rendering of the events via picking & choosing a variety of Northern & Southern writers then putting them in conversation with my grandfather. If we listen to what they had to say we have the war. Their words have been there from the start. It’s us who still wait to see them, not the other way around. The action revolves around original source documents, letters, diaries, wires, newspapers, contemporary writing, etcetera & is an ongoing project. March 1, 2022, it’s just about 660,000 words. I asked questions about what Whitman’s Real War came down to while typing up a few unusual original source documents you might never run across unless you sat & read for several years, or lucked upon them. The rest are well-known, out of the O.R. or other sources.

Overview of what you’ll encounter each day:

Four components to each day:

1) Grandfather’s diary entry

2) Original source documents

3) My notes on those documents

4) A response between each of the entries

Then it’s the next day. We keep going back to my grandfather.

There’s 4 letters here, too, written by him home, or to him from home, with stuff like:

“he was his prisner our spy told the people in Warren that Jacksons army was coming the people looked quite gay until they saw the American Flag they bit their lips the secesh do some awful lying in regard to matters” 

For more about the project itself, skip toward the end of this post, starting with “Language.”

DEDICATION:

For Ephraim and his 2-3,000-man Tyler’s Brigade that ran Jackson off June 9, 1862, at Port Republic, VA.

The Best Australian Essays: 2002 Edited by Peter Craven P. 292

“The Australian Spiritual Journey” Ihab Hassan

“We build museums to house history, but it slips out through the cracks of sash and jamb.”

Opening pages to contain: A detailed map & description of the Shenandoah Valley up through Pennsylvania, as well as a map of the U.S. & various theatres of battle & dates. A picture of Ephraim, & reproductions of his hand-drawn battle maps he stuck in the back flap of his diary. Photographs of his diary & samples of his handwriting, including his June 14^th entry.

Preamble:

In the following pages, my great-great-grandfather, Ephraim Burket, 110^th PA. Volunteers, takes direct part in four different “Class B” battles (though he came under fire in other instances with terms like engagements, skirmishes, actions, combats, sieges, affairs, reconnaissances, expeditions, and assorted operations, as well. March 19 as an example). Battles are rated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC), an entity established within the United States National Park Service in order to report to Congress on the condition of and preservation of battlefield sites. There are an estimated 8,000 “occasions in which hostilities occurred in the American Civil War” and the table on Wikipedia (“List of American Civil War Battlefields”) lists 384 battlefields currently rated by the CWSAC, and the rating system is as follows:

“Class A – Decisive: A general engagement involving field armies in which a commander achieved a vital strategic objective. Such a result might include an indisputable victory on the field or be limited to the success or termination of a campaign offensive. Decisive battles had a direct, observable impact on the direction, duration, conduct, or outcome of the war.

Class B – Major: An engagement of magnitude involving field armies or divisions of the armies in which a commander achieved an important strategic objective within the context of an ongoing campaign offensive. Major battles had a direct, observable impact on the direction, duration, conduct, or outcome of the campaign.

Class C – Formative: An engagement involving divisions or detachments of the field armies in which a commander accomplished a limited campaign objective of reconnaissance, disruption, defense, or occupation. Formative battles had an observable influence on the direction, duration, or conduct of the campaign.

Class D – Limited: An engagement, typically involving detachments of the field armies, in which a commander achieved a limited tactical objective of reconnaissance, defense, or occupation. Limited battles maintained contact between the combatants without observable influence on the direction of the campaign.”

Below are the four major engagements Ephraim took part in, all in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Note, however, that 6 major battles took place in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 (over 10,500 military engagements occurred during the war, with 50 major battles, according to the American Battlefield Trust):

Kernstown March 23; McDowell May 8; Front Royal May 23; First Winchester May 25; Cross Keys June 8; Port Republic June 9). Also listed are casualty counts as well as other facts of interest. However, as Civil War casualty counts are revised by historians every few years, these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. As Shelby Foote said, “And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than pinching a thing to find out how many men were killed at this particular action.”

March 23, 1862: First Battle of Kernstown— B. Union victory: Union forces defeat Confederates under Stonewall Jackson. Nathan Kimball v. Stonewall Jackson. Strength: USA: 6,352-9000. Casualties and losses: 590 total: 118 killed, 450 wounded, 22 captured or missing. CSA: Strength: 2,990-42,00. Casualties and losses: 718 total. 80 killed, 375 wounded, 263 captured or missing.

May 31-June 1, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines— B. Inconclusive. J.E. Johnson attacks Union forces, wounded, inconclusive. George B. McClellan v. Joseph E. Johnston/G.W. Smith. USA: Strength: 34,000. Casualties and losses: 5,031 total. 790 killed, 3,594 wounded, 647 captured or missing. CSA: Strength: 39,000. Casualties and losses: 6,134 total. 980 killed, 4,749 wounded, 405 captured or missing.

June 8, 1862: Battle of Cross Keys— B. Confederate victory: John C. Frémont defeated by elements of Stonewall Jackson’s force. John C. Frémont v. Richard S. Ewell. USA: Strength: 11,500 Casualties and losses: 684 total. 114 killed, 443 wounded, 127 missing. CSA: Strength: 5,800. Casualties and losses: 287 total. 42 killed, 230 wounded, 15 missing.

June 9, 1862: Battle of Port Republic— B. Confederate victory: Costly victory for Stonewall Jackson. Nathan Kimball v. Stonewall Jackson. Strength: 3,500. USA: Casualties and losses: 1,002 total. CSA: Strength: 6,000. Casualties and losses total: 816.

The 110^th Pennsylvania is listed in the Compendium of the War of the Rebellion: https://www.loc.gov/item/09005239 which is the compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, or the “Official Records” (“O.R.” for short) as one of 900 Union Regiments that lost 50 or more killed and mortally wounded. The 110th Pennsylvania Regiment was recruited in Blair County, Huntingdon County, Bedford County, the city of Philadelphia, and Centre and Clearfield Counties. Ephraim’s Company “D” was organized in Huntingdon County, near his home of Sinking Valley, PA. “Juniata Regiment” is also a nickname for the 110^th though I haven’t run into that alternate name but a couple times.

As well, the 110^th is referred to in “Soldiers of Blair County” by Hoenstine (below) as the “Juniata Rifles of Hollidaysburg.” Probably the latter name was used during & for some time after the war, but then evolved to the shorter version after the 1940s, when Hoenstine’s book came out. Note: Blair County was formed from Huntingdon & Bedford counties in 1846. In Soldiers of Blair County Pennsylvania: Military and Genealogical Records by Floyd G. Hoenstine, P. 168, I found 14 Burket men listed who served in the Civil War, yet 29 in the online version of this same book. I can’t recommend enough taking a look at this book, because it gives a sense of the immense impact wars and their aftermath had on citizens in this part of PA., from the Revolutionary War through WWI. Pages 153-280 are a register of all known Civil War soldiers of Blair County by name, rank, organization, born, died, cemetery, location (although more names appear in the online version of this book). Hoenstine includes quite detailed GAR Post information, plus the letters of a Captain Allison, one of which I include March 7. See Hoenstine, P. 126-127 for an overview of the record of the 110^th in the war, & P. 147 for an overview of Ephraim’s possible GAR Post #172.

However, Ephraim’s Post may also have been Post #39, named after Col. William Gray Murray of the 84^th, because #39 was Dr. Hay’s Post (whom Ephraim worked for in the 110^th as Dr. David Sterret Hays’ Hospital Steward), as it says in Hays’ obituary (see Col. Murray in Ecelbarger, P. 191, & Hays’ obituary in this manuscript). The 110^th & 84^th marched & fought alongside each other in Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Ephraim writes of the 84^th often. Edit to add 6/19/22: Hay’s Post definitely was #39 because it states that in his obit. This is Hays: 

Note: Ephraim writes of Dr. Hays a few times in his diary. His exact feelings about Hays remain murky, but they did travel together, the two of them, to find medical supplies. See June 16 for the JCCW’s egregious treatment of Dr. Hays, whom they railroaded, resulting in national headlines that Hays grossly neglected train cars full of wounded men fresh off the Port Republic battlefield. So Lincoln kicked Hays out of the Army. Oh, but that’s not all: https://jacksonsvalleycampaign.com/june-16/. To locate all posts re Hays, search his name in the search bar. I will  write a piece about the JCCW–Hays debacle before the day I die, so help me God. It is so convoluted & such a perfect example of these grafty men on this infamously corrupt committee who sat & judged other’s “conduct.” Jaw dropper.

Back to Post #172, named after Col. D.M. Jones, out of Tyrone: “LTC David Mattern Jones (1838-1877), 110^th PA. Inf., died at Denver, Co. where he had hope to regain his health. He had lost his left leg at the Battle of Gettysburg. Buried in Grandview Cem., Tyrone, in Blair County, local hero.” Nine GAR Posts formed in Ephraim’s Blair County between 1867 and 1888, plus one additional Post (#451) formed at county outskirts & was comprised of “some” Blair County veterans. The PA. 84^th (which marched & fought with the 110^th) Post was #39, which was the very first Blair County GAR Post that was formed at Hollidaysburg. In April, 1867, #39 formed, named to honor William Gray Murray, born in Ireland. Murray served in the Mexican-American War under General Scott. Ephraim mentions Murray on March 23. Murray was recruited then commissioned Colonel of the PA. 84^th by Governor Curtin in 1861. P. 144, Hoenstine: “Colonel Murray continued in command of the 84^th until the 23^rd of March, 1862, when he was instantly killed while engaged in battle at Kernstown, near Winchester, Virginia. His horse having been shot from under him, he lead his men on foot against the enemy when he received a bullet in the forehead. He was the first Pennsylvania Colonel to be killed in the war and the sad event created deep feeling throughout the entire country. His remains were returned to Hollidaysburg, where many citizens and soldiers paid their respects and burial was held in the St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hollidaysburg.”

“Colonel Murray’s name is handed down to the present generation by reason of the respect and esteem in which he was held by his comrades. Even though the last member of Post 39 has passed to the great beyond, history will forever record the death and sacrifice of this soldier and the achievements of the G.A.R. Post named in his honor.”

The tradition of recognizing Col. Murray continues through present day: in July, 2021, “Colonel Murray Civil War Days” were held in Hollidaysburg & Duncansville, which included a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument to Union soldiers in front of the Blair County Courthouse. Items such as a “period-correct casket,” weapons, “mourning customs,” uniforms, & a display on Lincoln could be visited at the “Historic Hollidaysburg” building, along with a 46^th PA. Reg’t band playing.

Note that some men in Post #172, the “Tyrone Camp” of Blair County, who served in the Civil War, likely had sons who served in the Spanish-American War, upon declaration of war with Spain on the 21^st of April, 1898. On P. 294, Hoenstine notes that the “members of the Tyrone Camp of the United Spanish War Veterans took over the duties of the Colonel D.M. Jones Post No. 172, Grand Army of the Republic, when the Civil War veterans were no longer able to care for the graves of their comrades or to arrange for the observance of patriotic occasions. All cemeteries are visited annually prior to Memorial Day by the members of Camp. No. 85 at which time they decorate the graves of all deceased veterans and hold appropriate services.” Camp No. 85, in 1939, had as a Trustee Harry S. Fleck, who was likely my cousin. “The Tyrone Camp meets on the last Friday of each month in the Municipal Building, in rooms used for many years by the veterans of the Civil War, which were set aside by ordinance for the use of organizations of the veterans of the various wars.” Imagine something nonphysical floating in these rooms, lingering unseen in the air as the men talked amongst themselves over the decades, maybe the dead hovering, eavesdropping, imploring them to stop the fighting. Or to continue on. Note that the final Blair County GAR Post to muster in formed on May 1, 1888, P. 152: “….but as the membership dwindled during the more recent years, the meetings were held in the office of John H. Nicodemus.” But whichever Ephraim’s Post was, he rests with a silver Grand Army of the Republic Star stuck in the ground over him at St. John’s Lutheran Church, in Huntingdon, PA., & it’s still pinned into his plot, 121 years later, like a flag pole planted to honor a country that survived.

Note: See Hoenstine, P. 130-142 (excerpts in June 15 in this manuscript) for discussion of the Blair County Militia in 1862 and 1863. The “Minute Men” were well & ready for Lee’s northern advance on Gettysburg, & the readiness of the PA. citizens isn’t something you’ll likely find in regular overview books on the war. P. 132: “To the people of south-central Pennsylvania every cloud of dust on the distant highway became a possible enemy patrol. Alarms sprang up everywhere and organizations of volunteers marched towards the south to guard the passes in the mountains, to protect the railroad bridges, and the towns. The rebel army continued its march without serious opposition….” But also note: by Spring of ’63, they were already running out of players for the war. Lincoln will, on March 3, sign the first national draft in U.S. history.

Monuments:

Soldiers of Blair County Pennsylvania: Military and Genealogical Records 1940 Floyd G. Hoenstine P. 144

Courthouse Civil War monument erected in 1896:

“The monument at the Court House, corner of Union and Allegheny Streets, was erected by the Commissioners of the County of Blair, as the citizens’ tribute to the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War, and was unveiled on the 11^th of June, 1896. The designer and erector was the Badger Brothers, of West Quincy, Massachusetts, and the cost was ten thousand dollars.”

In October, 2021, I called the Blair County Courthouse, since I found contradictory info. online about this monument’s continued existence, but the woman who answered said I don’t know. There are a couple war ones out there. Call the historical society. The historical society emailed a photo with no description, taken from afar, with no further information. Google shows the inscription: “TRIBUTE OF BLAIR COUNTY IN HONOR OF HER SONS WHO FOUGHT FOR THE UNION 1861—1865” Three men stand as part of the large monument; who they are, I don’t know. It’s in downtown Hollidaysburg to the right of the Courthouse entrance.

www.flickr.com/photos/josepha/16965539437

See: June 15 for this courthouse’s bell ringing in July, 1863, warning citizens Rebels were on their way.

As well: The 110^th garners mention in two memorials at Gettysburg Park. One large monument is dedicated solely to the 110th on the spot where one-third of the regiment was killed or wounded. The 110^th had 152 men in the battle, and of those, 8 were killed and 45 wounded. Right where the monument is placed, from 4pm to 6pm July 2, 1863, they fought. “The granite monument stands about thirteen and a half feet tall, with a life-sized sculpture of an infantryman standing atop a pedestal. The soldier faces away from the front of the statue and toward where the regiment held Longstreet’s advancing Confederates for two hours on the afternoon of July 2. The 110^th halted the advance of the CS through the woods. The diamond symbol of the Third Corps is on each face of the top of the pedestal, and the Seal of the State of Pennsylvania is on the front base.” “Dimensions: Sculpture: 15 feet and 7 inch. Base: 13 feet and 6 inches high, top sculpture: 5 feet 6 inches wide by 5 feet 6 inches deep. Base: 2 feet 10 inches deep.” Erected September 11, 1889. https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/union-monuments/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-infantry/110th-pennsylvania/

https://civilwar.gratzpa.org/2011/06/110th-pennsylvania-infantry-pennsylvania-regiments-at-gettysburg/

https://ranger95.com/civil_war_us/penna/infantry/110pav/110th_rgt_inf.html

The second memorial is the “Pennsylvania Memorial,” the largest monument on the battlefield. “Winged Victory” sits at the top, & her sword’s tip is 110 feet high. She weighs 7,500 pounds, & is made of melted-down cannons. A spiral staircase takes visitors to the top to view fields where men died or stayed alive, or somewhere in-between. Excellent views of Cemetery Ridge. And Governor Curtin and President Lincoln stand at the entrance on the west side, Lincoln with his right arm raised straight out from his shoulder as if saying stop here, you’ll get no further north with that horseshit. Various generals stand elsewhere around the other sides, & friezes appear about the archways. Here’s one of the front entrance inscriptions:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in honor of her sons who on this field fought for the Preservation of the Union July 1. 2. & 3.1863. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg

69 Regiments Infantry

9 Regiments Cavalry

7 Batteries Artillery

Total Present 34,530

Killed and mortally wounded 1182

Wounded 3177 Missing 860

And at the monument’s base & interior are a series of bronze tablets listing all regiments, companies, & names of all soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. The names of 34,530 Pennsylvanians are there.

It went up in 1910. One thing is certain: Ephraim was likely frightened during Gettysburg, & probably heard it as he stood on his farm 30 miles north as the crow flies. Marylanders heard the roar 120 miles away, but whether an acoustic shadow between Gettysburg & Huntingdon functioned, or how the wind went those 3 days, I don’t know. Apparently, Pittsburgh heard it, but going just 10 miles in another direction, people were clueless any fighting was even taking place. I haven’t found the humidity but did learn at Pickett’s Charge it was 87, & that an 87 temperature could equal a felt temperature of 95. I cover the weather for those 3 days in the July battle entries.

There were thousands of dead or wounded, & next to dead, horses on the farm lawn & surrounding area the next morning, July 4, & they smell different than people. 6 million pounds worth of human & animal flesh carcasses left under a hot sun. And the local wild animals & house dogs dug up the soldiers pretty fast. The men buried anonymously so their families never knew what happened to them. Only think of being those men, knowing you were already gone, your family would never even find where you dropped. You were already walking dust, that there won’t be enough left of your skeleton to cohere before it gets dropped in the ground. Relatives of the dead converged on the town to find & dig up dead kin, if they could find anything that resembled him.

“There are 1,328 monuments, memorials, markers, and plaques” at Gettysburg National Military Park, according to the NPS. One of those is the main traitor atop his horse; there exist roughly 40 Confederate statues of one sort or another taking up space in the same horizon they were shot back South & out of. Let the record show that George “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” Wallace showed up in ’63– the 100 year anniversary– in all his caucasity, to finish what they started, a reminder that violence of the oppressed is seen as illegitimate by those using violence to enforce their ability to use it to oppress in the first place. Must have been quite the hallucinogenic sight, him mingling with the reenactors, whistlin’ Dixie. True story.

https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/union-monuments/pennsylvania/state-of-pennsylvania/

Desertions:

According to desertersroster.psu.edu at Pennsylvania State University “Civil War Deserters” database first published in 1866 by the Provost Marshal General’s Office at the request of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 224 men total deserted out of the 110^th between 1861 and 1865. Out of Ephraim’s Co. D, eleven men deserted in total. (A=32, B=39, C=7, D=11, E=47, F=18, H=6, I=34, K=24.) Apparently company G, out of Philly, saw no deserters. (“J” was not a letter used because it can be too easily confused with “I,” & because of the Latin mixing of the two letters, which, apparently as recently as 1818, appeared in dictionaries as a consonant of “I,” thus interchangeable.)

Interestingly, in what appears now to have been an organized action, on 10/28/62, 35 men deserted from the 110^th. Two others deserted that week as well. Out of Ephraim’s Co. D, four soldiers left on 10/28. Other than “unknown” for the deserter date– which the army estimated to be around 12/30/62, 10/28 was the largest single date of desertion in the war for the 110^th. And siblings would often desert together. Note also that, at minimum, 49 men out of the 110^th were court-martialed– likely for desertion, drunkenness, or falling asleep at Post– including Chaplain Jeremiah Schindel, Colonel James Crowther, Captain J.L. Jeffries, Captain James Doyle, Captain John L. Jeffries, Captain William H. Stephens, Lieutenant John Cottrell, Lieutenant E.G. Dorsey, and Lieutenant J.T. Marshall. The rest were Privates. For links to pictures of Schindel & Crowther, they’re in this manuscript somewhere.

110^th Court Martials:

Andrew Brethauer at The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) wrote me about where Court Martial records exist for the 110^th:

“All of the Army court martial records for the Civil War era are located in Record Group 153 Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army) Entry PC29 15A Court Martial Case Files, 1800-1894. You can search for the names of the soldiers by searching the National Archives Catalog at https://catalog.archives.gov/advancedsearch. On this page, in the “Search Term:” box, type “110th pennsylvania,” and in the “Record Group Number / Collection ID:” box, type “153”. There appear to be nearly 50 different court martial cases for soldiers in this unit. Each case is identified by the letters and numbers listed in the “Local Identifier.” (For example, the case for Arthur Huey is KK-238.) Multiple soldiers could have been assigned the same case number.”

Edit to add 3/25: At least one execution of a 110th soldier:

More about the PA. 110^th:

Company D Roster: http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/110th/110thcod.html

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UPA0110RI

http://www.pacivilwar.com/regiment/110th.html

https://ranger95.com/civil_war_us/penna/infantry/110pav/110th_rgt_inf.html

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/110th_Regiment,_Pennsylvania_Infantry

https://civilwarindex.com/armypa/110th_pa_infantry.html

https://www.portal.hsp.org/subject-guide-overflow-07

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha008726291

Historical Society of PA. & Diaries, Letters, Reminiscences, and Papers: https://www.portal.hsp.org/subject-guide-overflow-07 Note that “HSP holds many national treasures, such as the first two drafts of the United States Constitution, an original printer’s proof of the Declaration of Independence, and the earliest surviving American photograph.”

Note: On February 25, 1862, when Ephraim is entering Virginia from Maryland, or about to, the U.S. is establishing its first national currency. He will die 30 years before the Star Spangled Banner becomes the national anthem. And it will be another 59 years before America (for now!) finalizes the flag. Interestingly, to say the least, it will take another 20 years post-war for people to realize birds don’t migrate to the moon every autumn.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era James McPherson P. 312-313

“The United States has usually prepared for its wars after getting into them. Never was this more true than in the Civil War. The country was less ready for what proved to be its biggest war than for any other war in its history. In early 1861 most of the tiny 16,000–man army was scattered in seventy-nine frontier outposts west of the Mississippi. Nearly a third of its officers were resigning to go with the South. The War Department slumbered in ancient bureaucratic routine. Most of its clerks, as well as the four previous secretaries of war, had come from the South. All but one of the heads of the eight army bureaus had been in service since the War of 1812. General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, seventy-four years old, suffered from dropsy and vertigo, and sometimes fell asleep during conferences. Many able young officers, frustrated by drab routine and cramped opportunities, had left the army for civilian careers. The “Winnebago Chief” reputation of Secretary of War Cameron did did not augur well for his capacity to administer with efficiency and honesty the huge new war contracts in the offing.

The army had nothing resembling a general staff, no strategic plans, no program for mobilization. Although the army did have a Bureau of Topographical Engineers, it possessed few accurate maps of the South. When General Henry W. Halleck, commanding the Western Department in early 1862, wanted maps he had to buy them from a St. Louis bookstore. Only two officers had commanded so much as a brigade in combat, and both were over seventy. Most of the arms in government arsenals (including the 159,000 muskets seized by Confederate states) were old smoothbores, many of them flintlocks of antique vintage.

The navy was little better prepared for war. Of the forty-two ships in commission when Lincoln became president, most were patrolling waters thousands of miles from the United States. Fewer than a dozen warships were available for immediate service along the American coast.”

Note: 16,367 was the size of the United States’ standing army in December, 1860. Yet note eventual casualties as percentages overall:

The War that Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters James McPherson (2015) P. 173

“In a country with less than one-sixth of the population it contained a century later, the number of American soldier deaths (including Confederates) in the Civil War was thirteen times greater than those in Vietnam. And to this total of 750,000 Civil War dead, one must add hundreds more in the Kansas wars of the 1850s that anticipated the war of 1861-1865 and the thousands of deaths in the paramilitary clashes in the South during Reconstruction.”

Theatres: Jackson’s Valley Campaign took place in the Eastern Theatre. There existed 5 “Theatres,” or main areas, where fighting took place (not including naval engagements): Eastern, Western, Trans-Mississippi, Pacific Coast, Lower Seaboard. Northerners tended to name battles after nearby mountains, valleys, bodies of water; Southerners after towns, railroad junctions. VA., D.C., MD.,TN., SC., NC., AR., TX., GA., KS., MS., MO., KY., NM., FLA., LA., OH., VT., W.VA., & 6 Territories: Arizona, Colorado, Dakota, Indian Territory, New Mexico, Washington Territory. However, as with anything war-related, new information continually appears, seemingly out of nowhere. Were there other areas?

Note: 326 armed conflicts occurred in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War, ranging from minor skirmishes to all-out major battles, according to the National Park Service’s 1992 “Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley” as noted on shenandoahatwar.org. For the complete list, see the very end of this manuscript for a chronology of action in the Valley, 1861–1865. Jackson’s Valley Campaign lasted 78 days, 3/23/62–6/9/62. Ephraim is present for each day!

110^th Flags: http://www.pacivilwarflags.org/regiments/indivRegiment.cfm?group=101-150&reg=110th%20Infantry

Source: Bates, Samuel P. History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg, 1868-1871. (1863) and in Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Compiled and Arranged from Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Armies, Reports of he Adjutant Generals of the Several States, the Army Registers, and Other Reliable Documents and Sources. Des Moines, Iowa: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908.

Found online at: pacivilwar@pa-roots.net

Organization:

Organized at Harrisburg, Huntingdon and Philadelphia August 19, 1861.
Left State for Hancock, Md., January 2, 1862.
Defence of Hancock January 5.
Attached to Tyler’s Brigade, Landers’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862.
3rd Brigade, Shield’s 2nd Division, Banks’ 5th Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah, to May, 1862.
4th Brigade, Shield’s Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862.
4th Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862.
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June, 1863.
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Army Corps, to March, 1864.
1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June, 1865.

Service:

At Cumberland and south branch of the Potomac
guarding bridges of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad till February 6.
Moved to Paw Paw Tunnel and duty there till March 7, 1862.
Advance on Winchester March 7-15.
Reconnoissance to Strasburg March 18-21.
Battle of Winchester March 23.
Pursuit of Jackson up the Valley March 24-April 27.
Occupation of Mt. Jackson April 17.
March to Fredericksburg May 12-21, and to Front Royal May 25-30.
Near Front Royal May 31.
Port Republic June 9.
Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9.
Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia August 16-September 2.
Fords of the Rappahannock August 21-23.
Manassas August 23.
Thoroughfare Gap August 28.
Groveton August 29.
Bull Run August 30.
Duty at Arlington Heights, Defences of Washington, Whipple’s Command, till October.
Moved to Pleasant Valley October 18, thence to Warrenton and Falmouth, Va.,
October 24-November 19.
Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15.
Burnside’s 2nd Campaign, “Mud March,” January 20-24, 1863.
At Falmouth till April.
Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6.
Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5.
Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24.
Battle of Gettysburg July 1-3.
Pursuit of Lee July 5-24.
Wapping Heights, Va., July 23.
On line of the Rappahannock till October.
Bristoe Campaign October 9-22.
Auburn and Bristoe October 13-14.
Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8.
Kelly’s Ford November 7.
Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2.
Payne’s Farm November 27.
Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864.
Duty near Brandy Station till May.
Rapidan Campaign May 4-June 12.
Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania May 8-12;
Po River May 10; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21.
Assault on the Salient May 12.
Harris Farm May 19.
North Anna River May 23-26.
On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28.
Totopotomoy May 28-31.
Cold Harbor June 1-12.
Before Petersburg June 16-18.
Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865.
Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1864.
Demonstration north of the James at Deep Bottom July 27-29.
Deep Bottom July 27-28.
Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (Reserve).
Demonstration north of the James at Deep Bottom August 13-20.
Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18.
Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2.
Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27-28.
Warren’s Raid on Hicksford December 7-12.
Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run, February 5-7, 1865.
Watkins’ House March 25.
Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9.
White Oak Road March 30-31.
Crow’s House March 31.
Fall of Petersburg April 2.
Sailor’s Creek April 6.
High Bridge, Farmville, April 7.
Appomattox Court House April 9.
Surrender of Lee and his army.
At Burkesville till May 2.
March to Washington, D.C., May 2-12.
Grand Review May 23.
Mustered out June 28, 1865

Losses:

Regiment lost during service:
7 Officers, 111 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded
78 Enlisted men by disease.
Total 196.

110th REGIMENT INFANTRY.

Organized at Harrisburg, Huntingdon and Philadelphia August 19, 1861. Left State for Hancock, Md., January 2, 1862. Defence of Hancock January 5. Attached to Tyler’s Brigade, Landers’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. 3rd Brigade, Shield’s 2nd Division, Banks’ 5th Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah, to May, 1862. 4th Brigade, Shield’s Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862. 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Army Corps, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June, 1865.

Note: I edited the following for spacing & a bit of punctuation, but everything else is the original. Source: History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Samuel P. Bates, Harrisburg, 1868-1871.

110th Regiment

Pennsylvania Volunteers

“Early in the summer of 1861, J. Y. James, a citizen of Warren, received authority from the War Department to recruit a brigade, to consist of three regiments. Recruiting was commenced on the 23d of August, and on the 1st of September, a camp of rendezvous and instruction was organized near Huntingdon, in the central part of the State. About the 1st of December the troops occupying this camp, were transferred to Camp Curtin, the arrangement for a brigade was broken up, and independent regiments were organized from them.

On the 2d of January, 1862, the regiment left Camp Curtin, and proceeded by rail to Hagerstown, whence it made a forced march to Hancock, the enemy, under Stonewall Jackson, at that time threatening the place. Arms were distributed immediately after its arrival, at midnight on the 4th, and it reported for duty to General F. W. Lander, in command of the Union forces at that point.

On the morning of the 5th, the troops were formed to resist the crossing of the enemy, who had already approached the town on the opposite side of the Potomac, and was demonstrating in force. After considerable shelling, at long range, by Jackson, which was replied to by Lander, the former withdrew, and pushed on to Romney, that being his real objective. As soon as this was discovered, Lander made a corresponding movement to Cumberland, where the main body of his division concentrated. Here the One Hundred and Tenth was assigned to Tyler’s Brigade.¹

After remaining about three weeks, the regiment moved along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to its crossing of the South Branch of the Potomac, and was employed in guarding the bridge until the 6th of February, when it moved to the Paw Paw Tunnel.

On the 2d of March, General Lander died, and was succeeded in command by General James Shields.

On the 8th of March the regiment broke camp at Paw Paw, and proceeded by rail to Martinsburg, whence it marched to Winchester. On the 18th, the division moved on a reconnoissance towards Strasburg, involving brisk skirmishing with Ashby’s Cavalry, the enemy retreating and burning the bridges as he went. The command bivouacked at Strasburg, on the night of the 19th, and on the 20th returned to camp, north of Winchester.

Early on the morning of the 23d, the enemy under Jackson approached in force, and attacked Shields’ advanced brigade, near the little village Camp Tyler of Kernstown, four and a half miles south of Winchester. Shields promptly ordered his forces forward, Tyler’s Brigade being assigned to the duty of attacking and turning the enemy’s left flank, which had been thrown forward to a commanding position, screened by timber and by a stone wall. The One Hundred and Tenth occupied the extreme right of the line, and in the charge upon the enemy in his sheltered position, suffered severely. Says General Shields, in his official report: “Our batteries on the opposite ridge, though admirably managed by their experienced chief, Lieutenant Colonel Daum, were soon found insufficient to check, or even retard the advance of such a formidable body. At this stage of the combat, a messenger arrived from Colonel Kimball, informing me of the state of the field, and requesting direction as to the employment of infantry. I saw there was not a moment to lose, and gave positive orders that all disposable infantry should be immediately thrown forward on our right to carry the enemy’s batteries, and to assail and turn his left flank, and hurl it back on the centre. Colonel Kimball carried out these orders with promptitude and ability He entrusted this movement to Tyler’s splendid brigade,which, under its fearless leader, Colonel Tyler, marched forward with alacrity, and enthusiastic joy, to the performance of the most perilous duty of the day.

“The enemy’s skirmishers were driven before it, and fell back upon the main body, strongly posted behind a high and solid stone wall, situated on an elevated ground. Here the struggle became desperate, and for a short time doubtful; but Tyler’s brigade being soon joined on the left by portions of Sullivan’s and Kimballs brigades, this united force dashed upon the enemy with a cheer and yell that rose high above the roar of battle, and though the rebels fought desperately, as their piles of dead attest, they were forced back through the woods by a fire as destructive as ever fell upon a retiring foe.

“Jackson, with his supposed invincible Stonewall Brigade, and the accompanying brigades, much to their mortification and discomfiture, were compelled to fall back in disorder upon their reserve. Here they took up a position for a final stand, and made an attempt, for a few minutes, to retrieve the fortunes of the day; but again rained down upon them the same close and destructive fire. Again cheer upon cheer rang in their ears. A few minutes only did they stand up against it, when they turned dismayed, and fled in disorder, leaving us in possession of the field, the killed and wounded, three hundred prisoners, two guns, four caissons, and a thousand stand of small arms. Night alone saved him from total destruction.”

The “loss in the regiment was thirteen killed, and thirty-nine wounded, out of three hundred engaged, the severe marching of the few preceding days having rendered many unfit to stand in the ranks. Lieutenant William Kochersperger was mortally wounded. The regiment was complimented, in a special order, for gallantry in this action.” Moore’s Rebellion Record, Vol. IV, page 323, Does.

On the morning succeeding the battle, the division advanced in pursuit of the retreating foe, as far as Harrisonburg. A few days later, the regiment was detached from the brigade, and for three weeks performed provost-guard duty at Winchester. At the end of that time it returned to Harrisonburg, and with the division moved for Fredericksburg, crossing the mountains into the Luray Valley, and thence across the Blue Ridge. In the passes of the Blue Ridge, Ashby’s Cavalry hung upon the flanks of the column, greatly annoying it. On the 18th of May, in a brisk skirmish between the cavalry at Gaines’ Cross Roads, company A was sent to the support of the Union forces, and succeeded in driving the enemy–losing two wounded. The balance of the regiment was immediately ordered up, and followed in pursuit for some distance, but failed to bring the enemy to bay.

Upon its arrival at Fredericksburg, the division was formed in four brigades, the One Hundred and Tenth being assigned to Colonel Carroll’s Brigade, which became a part of M’Dowell’s Corps.

Soon after arriving at Fredericksburg, M’Dowell’s Corps was ordered back to the Shenandoah Valley, to the support of Banks and Frémont in their encounters with Stonewall Jackson. On reaching the Luray Valley, Shields’ Division was ordered down on the right bank of the river, to Port Republic, where the advance under Colonel Carroll met the advance of Jackson.

In the battle which ensued, the One Hundred and Tenth was posted on the left in a wood. with the Fifth and Sixty-sixth Ohio thrown forward as skirmishers. Seeing the right hard pressed, General Tyler ordered the regiment to the threatened point; but before reaching it the enemy were driven, and it returned again to its former position. By this time the enemy had come up in heavy force on the left, and outflanking it, compelled it to fall back losing some guns and prisoners. Unable to stand up against the entire force of Jackson’s Army, General Tyler ordered a retreat, and the division fell hastily back to Front Royal. The loss of the regiment was considerable in killed and wounded, and especially so in prisoners. With the brigade, the regiment retired to Cloud’s Mills, near Alexandria, where it remained within the defences of Washington, for several weeks.

Upon the organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Pope, the brigade, now a part of Ricketts’ Division, of M’Dowells Corps, moved to Warrenton, where it remained until the close of July. It then moved forward to Culpepper Court House, near which, on the 9th of August, was fought the battle of Cedar Mountain, principally on the Union side by Banks’ Corps. Just before dusk, Ricketts’ Division was ordered up to the support of Banks, and relieved a part of his troops on the field. The One Hundred and Tenth was placed in support of batteries-a heavy artillery fire being kept up for some time, resulting in some loss.

After the battle, Pope advanced to the Rapidan, but soon commenced falling back towards Washington, the enemy threatening his right and rear. At Thoroughfare Gap, on the evening of the 28th, Ricketts’ Division was pitted against the entire strength of Longstreet’s Corps, struggling to force a passage, and form junction with Jackson. By presenting a bold front and by hard fighting, the rebel chieftain was held in check by this one small division until after nightfall, when, finding that further resistance was vain, it fell back to Manassas, and on the afternoon of the 29th, arrived on the battle-ground of Bull Run.

Early on the following morning, Ricketts’ Division was sent to support Heintzelman and Reno, on the right, but later in the day was brought to the left, where, with Schenck and Milroy, and the Pennsylvania Reserves, it maintained an unequal contest with great gallantry daring the afternoon; but at night, overborne by superior numbers, together with the entire army, it was forced from the field, and fell back to Centreville. The color bearer of the One Hundred and Tenth, finding his capture unavoidable, tore the colors from the staff, and concealed them about his person. He was taken prisoner, but adroitly managed to make his escape, and brought the flag safely into camp.

During the Antietam Campaign, the regiment was retained within the defences of Washington, and was posted at Arlington Heights. Joining the army near Harper’s Ferry, the division, now under command of General Whipple, moved with the army to the Rappahannock, and on the 13th of December, participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, being with Franklin, on the left, where it sustained severe loss, Captain John R. Kooken being mortally wounded.

On the 20th of December, Colonel Lewis, on account of physical disability, resigned, and Lieutenant Colonel Crowther was promoted to Colonel, Major David M. Jones to Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Isaac Rodgers to Major.

After the battle, the regiment returned to camp at Stoneman’s Switch, where, with the exception of a week of severe service in the Mud March, it remained until the opening of the spring campaign. Having been much reduced in numbers, it was, at the beginning of the year, consolidated into six companies. In the movement upon Chancellorsville, Sickles’ Corps at first supported Sedgwick in his feint upon the left, at Franklin’s Crossing. Starting from camp on the 28th, the regiment lay with the corps on the left bank of the Rappahannock, opposite the pontoons, in readiness to cross, until the morning of the 30th, when it marched away to United States Ford, and crossing the river, joined Hooker at Chancellorsville. The corps was posted on the right centre, and during the day and night of the 2d, operated on the flank of Jackson’s Corps, then moving upon the right wing of the Union army, held by the Eleventh Corps.

On the morning of the 3d, Sickles having fallen back to the Chancellor House, and posted his artillery with his infantry in support, the enemy attacked him there with the energy of desperation. Jackson had been mortally wounded, and his soldiers threw themselves upon the Union lines with reckless daring, to avenge his fall. Colonel Crowther was killed in this terrible encounter, and, nearly half of the effective strength of the regiment was either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. General Whipple, in command of the division, was also killed. At the conclusion of the battle, the regiment returned to camp, near Stoneman’s Switch.

Under command of Lieutenant Colonel Jones, the regiment moved on the Gettysburg campaign, about the middle of June, and on the evening, of the 1st of July, arrived on the field, taking position on the left, at that time forming part of De Trobriand’s Brigade, of Birney’s Division. In the formation of the Corps on the following morning, the regiment was posted at the front, across the brow of a rocky, wooded eminence to the left of, and nearly parallel with the Emmettsburg Pike. Skirmishing commenced early in the day, followed by a hot fire of artillery; but it was not until afternoon that the battle opened in earnest. Ward’s Brigade was first struck, away towards Round Top, and two of De Trobriand’s regiments, were hurried to his aid, leaving the latter with only a single line, without support. Soon the tide of battle, sweeping on towards the right, reached De Trobriand.

With desperation, the rebel horde came on, but was again and again swept back by the steady fire of the One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania, and the Fifth Michigan. Finally, with ammunition expended and ranks terribly shattered, it was relieved by Zook’s Brigade, and retired to the line which had been originally selected for the Third Corps to occupy where it rested and entrenched, and where it remained until the close of the battle. Lieutenant Colonel Jones was severely wounded, losing a leg, and fully one-third of the regiment were either killed or wounded.

After the battle, the regiment marched through South Mountain with the division, proceeded on to Williamsport, crossing the Potomac at that point, and followed in pursuit of Lee, as far as the Rapidan.

The regiment went into camp at Warrenton, where it remained several weeks, and thence moved to Culpepper. On the 11th of October, it fell back with the army towards the Rappahannock, and after crossing, marched back to Brandy Station on a reconnoissance. On the night of the 12th, it took position at Freeman’s Ford. The close and exciting race between Meade and Lee for the occupation of Centreville, now followed, in which the regiment participated.

On the 7th of November, it again moved forward to Catlett’s Station, where it remained, until the railroad, which had been destroyed by the rebels, had been reconstructed to that point. It then moved on through Hanover Junction and Bealton, to Kelly’s Ford. The Third Corps had the advance here, and De Trobriand’s Brigade formed the attacking party. It advanced at double quick, charged the rifle-pits of the enemy, and captured over four hundred prisoners. In this attack, the regiment was thrown forward as skirmishers, and wading the river, drove the rebels from their pits. Moving forward, it reached Brandy Station on the 8th of November, and encountered there a force of rebel cavalry and light artillery, when considerable skirmishing ensued. On the 26th of November, with ten days’ rations, it started on the Mine Run campaign, which proved abortive, and upon its abandonment, returned to Brandy Station, where it went into winter-quarters.

Early in January, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted, thus preserving its identity, and securing for itself a veteran furlough. While absent, a large number of recruits were obtained, and upon its return was thoroughly drilled, preparatory to entering upon the Spring campaign. With the brigade, it was transferred to the Second Corps, commanded by General Hancock. Major Rodgers, who had, in October, been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, in place of Lieutenant Colonel Jones, discharged for wounds received at Gettysburg, was commissioned Colonel, Captain Enoch E. Lewis, Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Isaac T. Hamilton, Major.

On the 4th of May, the regiment crossed the Rapidan, at Ely’s Ford, and entered the region of the Wilderness, encamping on the old battle-field of Chancellorsville. On the morning of the 5th, the corps moved towards Shady Grove Church, and joined Warren’s left; the One Hundred and Tenth being on the left of the line thus formed. On the 6th, the enemy was encountered and driven, but in turn, pushed back the Union forces to their intrenched line, where he was bloodily repulsed, and retired from the contest. On the 8th, the corps moved on towards Spottsylvania, and on the following morning was hotly engaged in the battle which there ensued, and also at the Po River. The regiment was afterward withdrawn from the south side of the river, and formed with the Fifth Corps. For six days it had been engaged in the hard fighting which had marked the course of the army, and had lost fully one-fourth of its effective strength.

On the morning of the 12th of May, the regiment participated in the charge of the corps upon the rebel works, when it captured an entire division of the rebel army. There was little firing, the movement being shielded by a dense fog. The first and a part of the second line was taken, the first held. Lieutenant John W. Manning was killed, and Colonel Rodgers, in command of the regiment, was mortally wounded.

In the remainder of the bloody march to Petersburg, the regiment, still forming part of Birney’s veteran division, shared in the trials and triumphs of the way, being engaged at the North Anna, Totopotomy, Shady Grove Church, Cold Harbor, and at the Chickahominy, where, on the 3d of June, it assaulted the enemy’s works with its usual energy and daring.

On the 14th it crossed the James, and marched to the assistance of the Eighteenth Corps, already engaged before Petersburg. With its corps it participated in the assault upon the enemy’s works on the following morning, sustaining heavy losses; Lieutenant Colonel Lewis, in command of the regiment, having his arm shattered by a minnie ball, and Captain William A. Norton being mortally wounded. After two days of comparative quiet, the corps moved around to the south side of the city, for the purpose of possessing the Weldon Railroad, wherein the regiment was actively engaged.

On the 23d, the veterans and recruits of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment were consolidated with this regiment, the original term of service of the former having expired.

Late in July, the regiment moved with the corps to the north side of the James, for a feint in favor of the operations to follow the explosion of the mine, and became involved in some severe fighting near Deep Bottom. Returning to the south bank, it was moved up to the neighborhood of the mine, where it was held in readiness to take advantage of any opportunity for action, which should be presented. No favorable occasion offering, it was settled in the trenches in front of the city, remaining in comparative quiet until the beginning of November, when it moved again to Deep Bottom, and was again warmly engaged, the regiment sustaining severe losses, especially in officers.

Soon after its return, the corps moved to the left of the Union lines, and became heavily engaged near Hatcher’s Run. The regiment now returned to the front line before the city, and with the Ninety-ninth, garrisoned Fort Hell during a considerable part of the ensuing winter. In December, it joined with the Fifth Corps in a descent upon the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and upon its return, resumed its place at the front, being occasionally called out for expeditions upon various parts of the line.

The Spring campaign, the last of the war, opened on the 25th of March, the rebel leader taking the initiative in his attack upon Fort Steadman. This was seized by Grant as the occasion for opening along the whole line. In the operations of the regiment on this day, Captain William Stewart was killed, and Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, who had commanded the regiment since the severe wounding of Colonel Lewis, was himself severely wounded. The command now devolved on Major Frank B. Stewart, subsequently commissioned Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel.

On the morning of the 29th, the regiment left camp, now for the final struggle, and crossing Hatcher’s Run, marched in the direction of Dinwiddie Court House, at evening putting up works just in the rear of some recently abandoned by the enemy. On the 2d of April, it marched towards Petersburg, finding his works all abandoned, except those in the immediate vicinity of the city, where some skirmishing ensued. During the night, he evacuated these also. Moving on in pursuit, long columns of prisoners were met, and captive trains.

On the morning of the 6th, the brigade to which the regiment was attached, was thrown forward upon the skirmish line, and soon struck the enemy, in the neighborhood of Amelia Springs, where, posted upon the heights to the west, he made a stubborn stand. The regiment sustained severe loss in killed and wounded; but finally, after hard fighting, his lines were broken and driven, his artillery captured, and towards evening, he was fleeing in complete rout- the road being strewn with wagons, tents, ammunition, and camp utensils. On the 7th, the pursuit was continued, the corps passing High Bridge, and reaching Farmville at evening, where another slight encounter took place, the regiment not coming into action.

On the 9th, the corps arrived at Clover Hill, where, at two in the afternoon, the news of the surrender of the rebel army was announced, amidst the wildest demonstrations of delight. Immediately taking up the homeward march, the regiment passed Burkesville and Richmond, and on the 15th of May, arrived in front of Washington, where, on the 28th of June, it was mustered out of service.

¹Organization of Tyler’s Brigade, Lander’s Division, Banks’ Corps, subsequently the Second of Pope’s Army. Seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteers, Colonel E. B. Ty]er; Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, Colonel Lewis P. Buckley; Seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteers,Colonel James Gavin; First Regiment Virginia Volunteers; One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel William D. Lewis, Jr.”

The following from the National Park Service is a quicker version: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units.htm#sort=score+desc&q=110th+pennsylvania

110th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry

Organized at Harrisburg, Huntingdon and Philadelphia August 19, 1861. Left State for Hancock, Md., January 2, 1862. Defence of Hancock January 5. Attached to Tyler’s Brigade, Landers’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. 3rd Brigade, Shield’s 2nd Division, Banks’ 5th Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah, to May, 1862. 4th Brigade, Shield’s Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862. 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Army Corps, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June, 1865.

SERVICE.-At Cumberland and south branch of the Potomac guarding bridges of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad till February 6. Moved to Paw Paw Tunnel and duty there till March 7, 1862. Advance on Winchester March 7-15. Reconnoissance to Strasburg March 18-21. Battle of Winchester March 23. Pursuit of Jackson up the Valley March 24-April 27. Occupation of Mt. Jackson April 17. March to Fredericksburg May 12-21, and to Front Royal May 25-30. Near Front Royal May 31. Port Republic June 9. Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9. Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Fords of the Rappahannock August 21-23. Manassas August 23. Thoroughfare Gap August 28. Groveton August 29. Bull Run August 30. Duty at Arlington Heights, Defences of Washington, Whipple’s Command, till October. Moved to Pleasant Valley October 18, thence to Warrenton and Falmouth, Va., October 24-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15. Burnside’s 2nd Campaign, “Mud March,” January 20-24, 1863. At Falmouth till April. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5. Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-3. Pursuit of Lee July 5-24. Wapping Heights, Va., July 23. On line of the Rappahannock till October. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Auburn and Bristoe October 13-14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Kelly’s Ford November 7. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Payne’s Farm November 27. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864. Duty near Brandy Station till May. Rapidan Campaign May 4-June 12. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Po River May 10; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. Harris Farm May 19. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1864. Demonstration north of the James at Deep Bottom July 27-29. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (Reserve). Demonstration north of the James at Deep Bottom August 13-20. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27-28. Warren’s Raid on Hicksford December 7-12. Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run, February 5-7, 1865. Watkins’ House March 25. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. White Oak Road March 30-31. Crow’s House March 31. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Sailor’s Creek April 6. High Bridge, Farmville, April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. At Burkesville till May 2. March to Washington, D. C., May 2-12. Grand Review May 23. Mustered out June 28, 1865.

Note: Many venues contain 110th minutia, like:

Organization of the Union Army in the Civil War:

Commander-in-Chief (President Lincoln: highest authority over Army; Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War; General-in-Chief of the Armies, Henry Halleck)

Army (2 or more Corps, led by a General)

Corps (2-4 Divisions, led by a Major-General)

Division (3-5 Brigades led by a Major-General)

Brigade (led by a Brigadier General; made up of 2-6 Regiments)

Regiment (around 1,000 officers & enlisted men; has 10 companies, all led by a Colonel, then a Lieutenant Colonel, then a Major)

Company (around 97 men led by a Captain, plus 3 officers)

See the Library of Congress at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/timeline.html for glass negatives, prints, a timeline. See the Library too at for maps of the territory. For a hardcopy map of the campaign that includes the topography, bridges, rail lines, troop positions, advances, retreats, dates, etc., see Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S.C. Gwynne, page 208. To see what existed for the 150 miles surrounding Richmond, see the Library map at . And, of course, Hotchkiss (though not many maps), in Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s Topographer. See the library’s “Sketch book of Jed. Hotchkiss, Capt. & Top. Eng., Hd. Qrs., 2^nd Corps, Army of N. Virginia: [Virginia].” 117 images! And peruse the Library of Congress cartoon print collection, 124 of them from 1860 to 1869, online at

More Civil War maps: see www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-maps.

Maps of the 1862 Valley Campaign are abundant. See The Civil War: The Story of the War With Maps by M. David Detweiler, & Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson, various, but P. 459 for May-June, 1862. Also, The Peninsula & Seven Days: A Battlefield Guide by Brian K. Burton.

The following summary is by General Imboden (C.S.A.) and concerns the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, otherwise known as “Jackson’s Valley Campaign.”

Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 319-335

Note: For more on Imboden, see especially June 30.

STONEWALL JACKSON IN THE SHENANDOAH.

John D. Imboden, Brigadier-General, C.S.A.

“Soon after the battle of Bull Run Stonewall Jackson was promoted to major-general, and the Confederate Government having on the 21^st of October, 1861, organized the Department of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, it was divided into the Valley District, the Potomac District, and Aquia District, to be commanded respectively by Major-Generals Jackson, Beauregard, and Holmes. On October 28^th General Johnston ordered Jackson to Winchester to assume command of his district, and on the 6^th of November the War Department ordered his old “Stonewall” brigade and six thousand troops under command of Brigadier-General W.W. Loring to report to him. These, together with Turner Ashby’s cavalry, gave him a force of about ten thousand men all told.

His only movement of note in the winter of 1861-62 was an expedition at the end of December to Bath and Romney, to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and a dam or two near Hancock on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. The weather set in to be very inclement about New Year’s, with snow, rain, sleet, high winds, and intense cold. Many in Jackson’s command were opposed to the expedition, and as it resulted in nothing of much military importance, but was attended with great suffering on the part of his troops, nothing but the confidence he had won by his previous services saved him from personal ruin. He and his second in command, General Loring, had a serious disagreement. He ordered Loring to take up his quarters, in January, in the exposed and cheerless village of Romney, on the south branch of the upper Potomac. Loring objected to this, but Jackson was inexorable. Loring and his principal officers united in a petition to Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of War, to order them to Winchester, or at least away from Romney. This document was sent direct to the War Office, and the Secretary, in utter disregard of “good order and discipline,” granted the request without consulting Jackson. As soon as information reached Jackson of what had been done, he indignantly resigned his commission. Governor Letcher was astounded, and at once wrote Jackson a sympathetic letter, and then expostulated with Mr. Davis and his Secretary with such vigor that an apology was sent to Jackson for their obnoxious course. The orders were revoked and modified, and Jackson was induced to retain his command. This little episode gave the Confederate civil authorities an inkling of what manner of man “Stonewall” Jackson was.

In that terrible winter’s march and exposure, Jackson endured all that any private was exposed to. One morning, near Bath, some of his men, having crawled out from under their snow-laden blankets, half-frozen, were cursing him as the cause of their sufferings. He lay close by under a tree, also snowed under, and heard all this; and, without noticing it, presently crawled out, too, and, shaking the snow off, made some jocular remark to the nearest men, who had no idea he had ridden up in the night and lain down amongst them. The incident ran through the little army in a few hours, and reconciled his followers to all the hardships of the expedition, and fully reestablished his popularity.

In March Johnston withdrew from Manassas, and General McClellan collected his army of more than one hundred thousand men on the Peninsula. Johnston moved south to confront him. McClellan had planned and organized a masterly movement to capture, hold, and occupy the Valley and the Piedmont region; and if his subordinates had been equal to the task, and there had been no interference from Washington, it is probable the Confederate army would have been driven out of Virginia and Richmond captured by midsummer, 1862.

Jackson’s little army in the Valley had been greatly reduced during the winter from various causes, so that at the beginning of March he did not have over 5000 men of all arms available for the defense of his district, which began to swarm with enemies all around its borders, aggregating more than ten times his own strength. Having retired up the Valley, he learned that the enemy had begun to withdraw and send troops to the east of the mountains to cooperate with McClellan. This he resolved to stop by an aggressive demonstration against Winchester, occupied by General Shields, of the Federal army, with a division of 8000 to 10,000 men.

A little after the middle of March, Jackson concentrated what troops he could, and on the 23^rd he occupied a ridge at the hamlet of Kernstown, four miles south of Winchester. Shields promptly attacked him, and a severe engagement of several hours ensued, ending in Jackson’s repulse about dark, followed by an orderly retreat up the Valley to near Swift Run Gap in Rockingham county. The pursuit was not vigorous nor persistent. Although Jackson retired before superior numbers, he had given a taste of his fighting qualities that stopped the withdrawal of the enemy’s troops from the Valley.

The result was so pleasing to the Richmond government and General Johnston that it was decided to reinforce Jackson by sending General Ewell’s division to him at Swift Run Gap, which reached him about the 1^st of May, thus giving Jackson an aggregate force of from 13,000 to 15,000 men to open his campaign with. At the beginning of May the situation was broadly about as follows: Milroy, with about 4087 men, was on the Staunton and Parkersburg road at McDowell, less than forty miles from Staunton, with Schenck’s brigade of about 2500 near Franklin. The rest of Frémont’s army in the mountain department was then about 30,000 men, of whom 20,000 were concentrating at Franklin, fifty miles north-west of Staunton, and within supporting distance of Milroy. Banks, who had fortified Strasburg, seventy miles north-east of Staunton by the great Valley turnpike, to fall back upon in an emergency, had pushed forward a force of 20,000 men to Harrisonburg, including Shields’s division, 10,000 strong. General McDowell, with 34,000 men, exclusive of Shields’s division, was at points east of the Blue Ridge, so as to be able to move either to Fredericksburg or to the Luray Valley and thence to Staunton. Not counting Colonel Miles’s, later Saxton’s, command, at Harper’s Ferry, which was rapidly increased to 7000 men, sent from Washington and other points north of the Potomac, before the end of May, Jackson had about 80,000 men to take into account (including all Union forces north of the Rappahannock and east of the Ohio) and to keep from a junction with McClellan in front of Richmond. Not less than 65,000 of these enemies were in the Valley under their various commanders in May and June.

Besides Ewell’s division already mentioned, General Johnston could give no further assistance to Jackson, for McClellan was right in his front with superior numbers, and menacing the capital of the Confederacy with almost immediate and certain capture. Its only salvation depended upon Jackson’s ability to hold back Frémont, Banks, and McDowell long enough to let Johnston try doubtful conclusions with McClellan. If he failed in this, these three commanders of an aggregate force then reputed to be, and I believe in fact, over one hundred thousand would converge and move down upon Richmond from the west as McClellan advanced from the east, and the city and its defenders would fall an easy prey to nearly, if not quite, a quarter of a million of the best-armed and best-equipped men ever put into the field by any government.

Early in May, Jackson was near Port Republic contemplating his surroundings and maturing his plans. What these latter were no one but himself knew.

Suddenly the appalling news spread through the Valley that he had fled to the east side of the Blue Ridge through Brown’s and Swift Run Gap. Only Ashby remained behind with about one thousand cavalry, scattered and moving day and night in then vicinity of McDowell, Franklin, Strasburg, Front Royal, and Luray, and reporting to Jackson every movement of the enemy. Despair was fast settling upon the minds of the people of the Valley. Jackson made no concealment of his flight, the news of which soon reached his enemies. Milroy advanced two regiments to the top of the Shenandoah Mountain, only twenty-two miles from Staunton, and was preparing to move his entire force to Staunton, to be followed by Frémont.

Jackson had collected, from Charlottesville and other stations on the Virginia Central Railroad, enough railway trains to transport all of his little army. That it was to be taken to Richmond when the troops were all embarked no one doubted. It was Sunday, and many of his sturdy soldiers were Valley men. With sad and gloomy hearts they boarded the trains at Mechum’s River Station. When all were on, lo! they took a westward course, and a little after noon the first train rolled into Staunton.

News of Jackson’s arrival spread like wild-fire, and crowds flocked to the station to see the soldiers and learn what it all meant. No one knew.

As soon as the troops could be put in motion they took the road leading toward McDowell, the general having sent forward cavalry to Buffalo Gap and beyond to arrest all persons going that way. General Edward Johnston, with one of Jackson’s Valley brigades, was already at Buffalo Gap. The next morning, by a circuitous mountain-path, he tried to send a brigade of infantry to the rear of Milroy’s two regiments on Shenandoah Mountain, but they were improperly guided and failed to reach the position in time, so that when attacked in front both regiments escaped. Jackson followed as rapidly as possible, and the following day, May 8^th, on top of the Bull Pasture Mountain, three miles east of McDowell, encountered Milroy reënforced by Schenck, who commanded by virtue of seniority of commission. The conflict lasted several hours, and was severe and bloody. It was fought mainly with small-arms, the ground forbidding much use of artillery. Schenck and Milroy fled precipitately toward Franklin, to unite with Frémont. The route lay along a narrow valley hedged up by high mountains, perfectly protecting the flanks of the retreating army from Ashby’s pursuing cavalry, led by Captain Sheetz. Jackson ordered him to pursue as rigorously as possible, and to guard completely all avenues of approach from the direction of McDowell or Staunton till relieved of this duty. Jackson buried the dead and rested his army, and then fell back to the Valley on the Warm Springs and Harrisonburg road.

The morning after the battle of McDowell I called very early on Jackson at the residence of Colonel George W. Hull of that village, where he had his headquarters, to ask if I could be of any service to him, as I had to go to Staunton, forty miles distant, to look after some companies that were to join my command. He asked me to wait a few moments, as he wished to prepare a telegram to be sent to President Davis from Staunton, the nearest office to McDowell. He took a seat at a table and wrote nearly half a page of foolscap; he rose and stood before the fireplace pondering it some minutes; then he tore it in pieces and wrote again, but much less, and again destroyed what he had written, and paced the room several times. He suddenly stopped, seated himself, and dashed off two or three lines, folded the paper, and said, “Send that off as soon as you reach Staunton.” As I bade him “good-bye,” he remarked: “I may have other telegrams to-day or to-morrow, and will send them to you for transmission. I wish you to have two or three well-mounted couriers ready to bring me the replies promptly.

I read the message he had given me. It was dated “McDowell,” and read about thus: “Providence blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday.” That was all. A few days after I got to Staunton a courier arrived with a message to be telegraphed to the Secretary of War. I read it, sent it off, and ordered a courier to be ready with his horse, while I waited at the telegraph office for the reply. The message was to this effect: “I think I ought to attack Banks, but under my orders I do not feel at liberty to do so.” In less than an hour a reply came, but not from the Secretary of War. It was from General Joseph E. Johnston, to whom I supposed the Secretary had referred General Jackson’s message. I have a distinct recollection of its substance, as follows: “If you think you can beat Banks, attack him. I only intended by my orders to caution you against attacking fortifications.” Banks was understood to have fortified himself strongly at Strasburg and Cedar Creek, and he had fallen back there. I started the courier with this reply, as I supposed, to McDowell, but, lo! it met Jackson only twelve miles from Staunton, to which point on the Harrisonburg and Warm Springs turnpike he had marched his little army, except Ashby’s cavalry, which, under an intrepid leader, Captain Sheetz, he had sent from McDowell to menace Frémont, who was concentrating at Franklin in Pendleton County, where he remained in blissful ignorance that Jackson had left McDowell, till he learned by telegraph some days later that Jackson had fallen upon Banks at Front Royal and driven him through Winchester and across the Potomac.

Two hours after receiving this telegram from General Johnston, Jackson was en route for Harrisonburg, where he came upon the great Valley turnpike. By forced marches he reached New Market in two days. Detachment of cavalry guarded every road beyond him, that Banks remained in total ignorance of his approach. This Federal commander had the larger part of his force well fortified at and near Strasburg, but he kept a large detachment at Front Royal, about eight miles distant and facing the Luray or Page Valley.

From New Market Jackson disappeared so suddenly that the people of the Valley were again mystified. He crossed the Massanutten Mountain, and passing Luray, hurried toward Front Royal. He sometimes made thirty miles in twenty-four hours with his entire army, thus gaining for his infantry the sobriquet of “Jackson’s foot cavalry.” Very early in the afternoon of May 23d he struck Front Royal. The surprise was complete and disastrous to the enemy, who were commanded by Colonel John R. Kenly. After a fruitless resistance they fled toward Winchester, twenty miles distant, with Jackson at their heels. A large number were captured within four miles by a splendid cavalry dash of Colonel Flournoy and Lieutenant-Colonel Watts.

News of this disaster reached Banks at Strasburg, by which he learned that Jackson was rapidly gaining his rear toward Newtown. The works Banks had constructed had not been made for defense in that direction, so he abandoned them and set out with all haste for Winchester, but, en route, near Newtown (May 24^th), Jackson struck his flank, inflicting heavy loss, and making large captures of property, consisting of wagons, teams, camp-equipage, provisions, ammunition, and over nine thousand stand of arms, all new and in perfect order, besides a large number of prisoners.

Jackson now chased Banks’s fleeing army to Winchester, where the latter made a stand, but after a sharp engagement with Ewell’s division on the 25^th he fled again, not halting till he had crossed the Potomac, congratulating himself and his Government in a dispatch that his army was at last safe in Maryland. General Saxton, with some 7000 men, held Harper’s Ferry, 32 miles from Winchester. Jackson paid his respects to this fortified post, by marching a large part of his forces close to it, threatening an assault, long enough to allow all the captured property at Winchester to be sent away toward Staunton, and then returned to Winchester. His problem now was to escape the clutches of Frémont, knowing that the officer would be promptly advised by wire of what had befallen Banks. He could go back the way he came, by the Luray Valley, but that would expose Staunton (the most important depot in the valley) to capture by Frémont, and he had made his plans to save it.

I had been left at Staunton organizing my recruits. On his way to attack Banks, Jackson sent me an order from New Market to throw as many men as I could arm, and as quickly as possible, into Brocks’s Gap, west of Harrisonburg, and into any other mountain-pass through which Frémont could reach the valley at or south of Harrisonburg, there was a narrow defile hemmed in on both sides by nearly perpendicular cliffs, over five hundred feet high. I sent about fifty men, well armed with long-range guns, to occupy these cliffs, and defend the passage to the last extremity.

On the 25^th of May, as soon as Frémont learned of Banks’s defeat and retreat to the Potomac, he put his army of about 14,000 in motion from Franklin to cut off Jackson’s retreat up the valley. Ashby’s men were still in his front toward McDowell, with an unknown force; so Frémont did not attempt that route, but sent his cavalry to feel the way toward Brock’s Gap, on the direct road to Harrisonburg. The men I had sent to the cliffs let the head of the column get well into the defile or gorge, when, from a position of perfect safety to themselves, they poured a deadly volley into the close column. The attack being unexpected, and coming from a foe of unknown strength, the Federal column halted and hesitated to advance. Another volley and the “rebel yell” from the cliffs turned them back. Never to appear again. Frémont took the road to Moorefield, and thence to Strasburg, though he had been peremptorily ordered on May 24^th by President Lincoln to proceed direct to Harrisonburg. It shows how close had been Jackson’s calculation of chances, to state that as his rear-guard marched up Fisher’s Hill, on the road from Moorefield, and a sharp skirmish took place. Jackson continued to Harrisonburg, hotly pursued by Frémont, but avoiding a conflict.

The news of Banks’s defeat created consternation at Washington, and Shields was ordered to return from east of the Blue Ridge to the Luray Valley in all haste to cooperate with Frémont. Jackson was advised of Shields’s approach, and his aim was to prevent a junction of their forces till he reached a point where he could strike them in quick succession. He therefore sent cavalry detachments along the Shenandoah to burn the bridges as far as Port Republic, the river being at that time too full for fording. At Harrisonburg he took the road leading to Port Republic, and ordered me from Staunton, with a mixed battery and battalion of cavalry, to the bridge over North River near Mount Crawford, to prevent a cavalry force passing to his rear.

At Cross Keys, about six miles from Harrisonburg, he delivered battle to Frémont, on June 8^th and, after a long and bloody conflict, as night closed in he was master of the field. Leaving one division- Ewell’s- on the ground, to resist Frémont if he should return next day, he that might marched the rest of his army to Port Republic, which lies in the forks of the river, and made his arrangements to attack the troops of Shields’s command next morning on the Lewis farm, just below the town.

On the day of the conflict at Cross Keys I held the bridge across North River at Mount Crawford with a battalion of cavalry, four howitzers, and a Parrott gun, to prevent a cavalry flank movement on Jackson’s trains at Port Republic. About 10 o’clock at night I received a note from Jackson, written in pencil on the blank margin of a newspaper, directing me to report with my command at Port Republic before daybreak. On the same slip, and as a postscript, he wrote, “Poor Ashby is dead. He fell gloriously…. I know you will join with me in mourning the loss of our friend, one of the noblest men and soldiers in the Confederate army.” I carried that slip of paper till it was literally worn to tatters.

It was early, Sunday, June 8^th, when Jackson and his staff reached the bridge at Port Republic. General E.B. Tyler, who, with two brigades of Shields’s division, was near by on the east side of the river, had sent two guns and a few men under a green and inefficient officer to the bridge. They arrived about the same time as Jackson, but, his troops soon coming up, the Federal officer and his support made great haste back to the Lewis farm, losing a gun at the bridge.

I reached Port Republic an hour before daybreak of June 9^th, and sought the house occupied by Jackson; but not wishing to disturb him so early, I asked the sentinel what room was occupied by “Sandy” Pendleton, Jackson’s adjutant-general. “Upstairs, first room on the right,” he replied.

Supposing he meant our right at we faced the house, It went up, softly opened the door, and discovered General Jackson lying on his face across the bed, fully dressed, with sword, sash, and boots all on. The low-burnt tallow candle on the table shed a dim light, yet enough by which to recognize him. I endeavored to withdraw without waking him. He turned over, sat up on the bed, and called out, “Who is that?”

He checked my apology with “That is all right. It’s time to be up. I am glad to see you. Were the men all up as you came through camp?”

“Yes, General, and cooking.”

“That’s right. We move at daybreak. Sit down. I want to talk to you.”

I had learned never to ask him questions about his plans, for he would never answer such to any one. I therefore waited for him to speak first. He referred very feelingly to Ashby’s death, and spoke of it as an irreparable loss. When he paused I said, “General, you made a glorious winding-up of your four weeks’ work yesterday.”

He replied, “Yes, God blessed our army again yesterday, and I hope with his protection and blessing we shall do still better to-day.”

Then seating himself, for the first time in all my intercourse with him, he outlined the day’s proposed operations. I remember perfectly his conversation. He said: “Charley Winder [Brigadier-General commanding his old ‘Stonewall’ brigade] will cross the river at daybreak and attack Shields on the Lewis farm [two miles below]. I shall support him with all the other troops as fast as they can be put in line. General ‘Dick’ Taylor will move through the woods on the side of the mountain with his Louisiana brigade, and rush upon their left flank by the time the action becomes general. By 10 o’clock we shall get them on the run, and I’ll now tell you what I want with you. Send the big new rifle-gun you have [a 12-pounder Parrott] to [commander of the Rockbridge artillery] and let your mounted men report to the cavalry. I want you in person to take your mounted howitzers to the field, in some safe position in rear of the line, keeping everything packed on the mules, ready at any moment to take to the mountain-side. Three miles below Lewis’s there is a defile on the Luray road. Shields may rally and make a stand there. If he does, I can’t reach him with the field-batteries on account of the woods. You can carry your 12-pounder howitzers on the mules up the mountain-side, and at some good place unpack and shell the enemy out of the defile, and the cavalry will do the rest.”

This plan of battle was carried out to the letter. I took position in a ravine about two hundred yards in rear of Poague’s battery in the center of the line. General Tyler, who had two brigades of Shield’s division, made a very stubborn fight, and by 9 o’clock matters began to look very serious for us. Dick Taylor had not yet come down out of the woods on Tyler’s left flank.

Meanwhile I was having a remarkable time with our mules in the ravine. Some of the shot aimed at Poague came bounding over our heads, and occasionally a shell would burst there. The mules became frantic. They kicked, plunged, and squealed. It was impossible to quiet them, and it took three or four men to hold one mule from breaking away. Each mule had about three hundred pounds weight on him, so securely fastened that the load could not be dislodged by any of his capers. Several of them lay down and tried to wallow their loads off. The men held these down, and that suggested the idea of throwing them all on the ground and holding them there. The ravine sheltered us so that we were in no danger from the shot or shell which passed over us.

Just about time our mule “circus” was at its height, news came up the line from the left that Winder’s brigade near the river was giving way. Jackson rode down in that direction to see what it meant. As he passed on the brink of our ravine, his eye caught the scene, and, reining up a moment, he accosted me with, “Colonel, you seem to have trouble down there.” I made some reply which drew forth a hearty laugh, and he said, “Get your mules to the mountain as soon as you can, and be ready to move.”

Then he dashed on. He found his old brigade had yielded slightly to overwhelming pressure. Galloping up, he was received with a cheer, and, calling out at the top of his wife, “The ‘Stonewall’ brigade never retreats; follow me!” led them back to their original line. Taylor soon made his appearance, and the flank attack settled the work of the day. A wild retreat began. The pursuit was vigorous. No stand was made in the defile. We pursued them eight miles. I rode back with Jackson, and at sunset we were on the battle-field at the Lewis mansion.

Jackson accosted a medical officer, and said, “Have you brought off all the wounded?” “Yes, all of ours, but not all of the enemy’s.” “Why not?” “Because we were shelled from across the river.” “Had you your hospital flag on the field?” “Yes.” “And they shelled that?” “Yes.” “Well, take your men to their quarters, I would rather let them all die than have one of my men shot intentionally under the yellow flag when trying to save their wounded.”

Frémont hearing the noise of the battle, had hurried out from near Harrisonburg to help Tyler; but Jackson had burnt the bridge at Port Republic, after Ewell had held Frémont in check some time on the west side of the river and escaped, so that when Frémont came in sight of Tyler’s battle-field, the latter’s troops had been routed and the river could not be crossed.

The next day I returned to Staunton, and found General W.H.C. Whiting, my old commander after the fall of General Bee at Bull Run, arriving with a division of troops to reënforce Jackson. Taking him and his staff to my house as guests, General Whiting left soon after breakfast with a guide to call on Jackson at Swift Run Gap, near Port Republic, where he was resting his troops. The distance from Staunton was about twenty miles, but Whiting returned after midnight. He was in a towering passion, and declared that Jackson had treated him outrageously. I asked, “How is that possible, General, for he is very polite to every one?”

“Oh! hang him, he was polite enough. But he didn’t say one word about his plans. I finally asked him for orders, telling him what troops I had. He simply told me to go back to Staunton, and he would send me orders to-morrow. I haven’t the slightest idea what they will be. I believe he hasn’t any more sense than my horse.”

Seeing his frame of mind, and he being a guest in my house, I said little. Just after breakfast, next morning, a courier arrived with a terse order to embark his troops on the railroad trains and move to Gordonsville at once, where he would receive further orders. This brought on a new explosion of wrath. “Didn’t I tell you he was a fool, and doesn’t this prove it? Why, I just came through Gordonsville day before yesterday.”

However, he obeyed the order; and when he reached Gordonsville he found Jackson there, and his little Valley army coming after him; a few days later McClellan was astounded to learn that Jackson was on his right flank on the Chickahominy. Shortly after the seven days’ battle around Richmond, I met Whiting again, and he then said: “I didn’t know Jackson when I was at your house. I have found out now what his plans were, and they were worthy of a Napoleon. But I still think he ought to have told me his plans; for if he had died McClellan would have captured Richmond. I wouldn’t have known what he was driving at, and might have made a mess of it. But I take back all I said about his being a fool.”

From the date of Jackson’s arrival at Staunton till the battle of Port Republic was thirty-five days. He marched from Staunton to McDowell, 40 miles, from McDowell to Front Royal, about 110, from Front Royal to Winchester, 20 miles, Winchester to Port Republic, 75 miles, a total of 245 miles, fighting in the meantime 4 desperate matches, and winning them all.

On the 17^th of June, leaving only his cavalry, under Brigadier-General B.H. Robertson, and Chew’s battery, and the little force I was enlisting in the valley (which was now no longer threatened by the enemy), Jackson moved all his troops south-east, and on the 25^th arrived at Ashland, seventeen miles from Richmond. This withdrawal from the valley was so skillfully managed that his absence from the scene of his late triumphs was unsuspected at Washington. On the contrary, something like a panic prevailed there, and the Government was afraid to permit McDowell to unite his forces with McClellan’s lest it should uncover and expose the capital to Jackson’s supposed movement in it.

Jackson’s military operations were always unexpected and mysterious. In my personal intercourse with him in the early part of the war, before he had become famous, he often said there were two things never to be lost sight of by a military commander: “Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible.”

His celerity of movement was a simple matter. He never broke down his men by too-long continued marching. He rested the whole column very often, but only for a few minutes at a time. I remember that he liked to see the men lie down flat on the ground to rest, and would say, “A man rests all over when he lies down.’”

Note: Pennsylvania loyalty was a gamble:

In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864 Edward Ayers P. 216

“Had the War Democrats not sided with the Republicans in Pennsylvania, that state may well have gone to the party opposed to Lincoln and the war he oversaw.”

Note: The Union was able to gather 575,000 men to fight by January first, 1862 (P. 234, Ayers). For a more Northern perspective, as compared to Imboden:

Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 165-166

Introduction

Stephen W. Sears

“As the calendar turned to 1862, the Union war effort appeared stalled on dead center. On January 10, to try to get the war moving again, President Lincoln convened a conference of his generals and advisers at the White House. “The President was greatly disturbed at the state of affairs,” wrote one of his listeners, General Irvin McDowell. “Spoke of the exhausted condition of the Treasury; of the loss of public credit; of the Jacobinism in Congress; of the delicate condition of our foreign relations; of the bad news he had received… on the state of affairs in Missouri; of the want of co-operation between General Halleck and General Buell; but, more than all, the sickness of General McClellan…. To use his own expression, if something was not done soon, the bottom would be out of the whole affair….”

Clearly, Lincoln had cause to be disturbed. Of immediate concern was the illness of his general in chief, George B. McClellan, diagnosed with a serious case of typhoid fever. For almost three weeks McClellan was incommunicado; no one knew his plans, or if he had any plans, or indeed if he would survive. By McDowell’s account, the president remarked, “if General McClellan did not want to use the army, he would like to ‘borrow it,’ provided he could see how it could be made to do something….”

Borrowing McClellan’s army was perhaps not such a far-fetched idea. It was the widespread perception, in that January of 1862, that the Army of the Potomac had sat unused at Washington for far too long. It was going on six months since McClellan had taken command after the Bull Run defeat and commenced reorganizing and training and generally breathing new life into the Union’s principal army. Yet still a Confederate army under Joseph E. Johnston was encamped at Manassas, only some twenty-five miles from the capital and as menacing as ever. Further, the Rebels had closed the Potomac below Washington, and along the upper Potomac they blocked railroad and canal access to the city. McClellan’s sole countermove, an attempt to clear the upper Potomac in October 1861, had been bloodily repulsed in fighting at Ball’s Bluff. Washington remained encased in a near blockade, and Attorney General Edward Bates made complaint: “It isolates the Capital by closing its only outlet to the ocean, and thus makes the impression upon both parties to the contest, and especially to foreigners, that we are both weak and timid.” Under this stalemate, Bates added, “the public spirit is beginning to quail.” Lincoln’s White House conference would at least rouse General McClellan from his sickbed, and in due course gain from him a campaign plan and a promise of action. It would be spring, however, before serious campaigning could begin in the Eastern Theater.”

Note: After Bull Run, Union soldiers stood guarding the north bank of the Potomac in case Confederates tried to cross into Maryland.

Note: The terrain of the Shenandoah Valley rises as it goes South, thus the Shenandoah River drains northward, not southward, so an army moving South in the Valley goes up, not down. As Bruce Catton puts it: “The rivers of eastern Virginia slant down toward the sea from the northwest.” A Stillness at Appomattox Bruce Catton P. 146

For a sense of the fighting terrain to come in the following pages (the Valley starts out as a “lovely section” which will soon decompose into something entirely else), an overview of the otherworldly land, valleys, mountains, & rivers Ephraim will be marching through, fighting in, & amputating limbs out of (many more descriptions of the Valley will follow throughout manuscript), Freeman orients us:

Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command Volume 1 Douglas Southall Freeman Scribner, 1942 P. 689-691

“Soon to become renowned in military parlance as the Valley District was the Shenandoah Defensive Area, the second of the State. This lovely section between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains traditionally sets its southern boundary where the James River crosses it near the line of Botetcourt County, but the country south of Botetcourt is almost identical in geology with that to the North. Despite cross ranges and divergent watersheds, the “Great Valley,” as some of the early geographers styled it, runs southwestward into Tennessee.

With the Shenandoah area, three mountain counties to the westward, Highland, Bath and Alleghany, had strategically to be included. The reasons were unescapable. Through Highland, via Monterey, ran the Staunton and Parkersburg road, one of the two most important highways of Western Virginia. The defense of the Valley from a hostile advance Southeast along this road would probably be made on the crest of the Allegheny Mountains, which formed the western boundary of Highland. Again, Bath County led into Pocahontas, across the range, and had likewise, from North to South, a road that linked Monterey with Covington, in Allegheny County. Covington was a few miles only from the terminus of the Virginia Central Railroad, and was directly on the route of the Kanawha road, which ran from Lewisburg, West of Covington, to Charlestown. Inasmuch, then, as both the main highways of Western Virginia converged in this tier of three counties, Highland, Bath and Allegheny were the outposts of the Valley. They must be defended.

On the eastern side of the Shenandoah area, numerous gaps led through the Blue Ridge into Piedmont. These passes varied in difficulty and in availability for defense. As a rule, against direct assault, all except the easiest and the lowest of the gaps could be held temporarily by a regiment of cavalry and a field battery.

The “Great Valley” has its lesser valleys, its mountains among its farmlands, and its eastern as well as its western outposts. Opposite Manassas, a small railroad junction in Prince William County, a low range lies fifteen miles East of and parallel to the Blue Ridge proper. It runs for about twenty-five miles and bears the undistinguished name, Bull Run Mountains. The principal pass in these mountains, one of the least arduous of all, is styled Thoroughfare Gap. It was in 1861 a name soon to be famous.

Another geographical paradox of the Shenandoah region is an abrupt mass of low mountain that extends roughly North and South up the middle of the Valley for more than fifty miles between Front Royal and Harrisonburg. The South Fork, or main stream of the Shenandoah, runs to the East of these mountains; the North Fork rises to the West. Thus there are two valleys with mountains on both sides of each of them. The fine country along the South Fork, nearest the Blue Ridge, was called the Luray Valley; to the West, the name Shenandoah prevailed. “Massanutton” was the odd appellation of the mid-Valley mountains. If Virginia were fortunate enough to find a great strategist to operate in that area, the hide-and-seek terrain around the Massanutton Mountains would be a perfect chessboard for him.

Immediately, the northern end of the Valley, often called the “Lower Valley,” had far greater strategic value than the Massanutton could possess. The reason was this: If a line were drawn directly from Washington, it would pass through Woodstock and the northern end of the Massanutton. All the Lower Valley, from Woodstock to the Potomac, a distance of sixty miles, was, so to speak, on the flank of the Federal capital. If a Southern army could hold the passes of the Blue Ridge, it would be in a vast covered way. It could cross the Potomac with security to its line of supply, and perhaps could threaten Washington from the Northwest. Such an army would be forty miles closer to Baltimore than a Federal force in Washington would be to Richmond. Again, if Union troops marched down the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Southern soldiers in the Lower Valley would be on their flank and might get in their rear. Thanks to the Manassas Gap Railway, it would be easy to move troops from the Valley to the Northeastern district and vice versa. At the same time, Southern forces in the Lower Valley could interrupt communication on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. That indispensable link between East and West ran on an exposed right of way along the Potomac.

Besides presenting these possibilities for an offensive, the Lower Valley had to be held by the Confederates for defensive reasons. If it were abandoned at the outset, Virginia could not hope to remove to safety the valuable rifle machinery in the United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, situated where the Shenandoah enters the Potomac. The Valley, moreover, was the most productive area in Virginia both for cattle and for grain. To evacuate those fruitful counties would be to lose tens of thousands of rations. Still again, if the Valley constituted a covered way for an army moving to invade the North or to threaten Washington, so, in reverse, to an enemy who seized and held the gaps, the Valley offered an easy route to the geographical center of Virginia.”

Jackson, Winchester, 1862:

Language:

I refer to both armies, fighting men, commanders & everything else war-related in the same language those present during the war used. That said, the majority of the American South did not support nor desire to fight for the Confederacy (100k White Southerners fought for the Union; 200k Black Americans, too, most from the South, after escaping). Nor did Southerners, overall, want to leave the Union (my other 2x grandfather, after joining the Arkansas Peace Society, got arrested then force-marched in chains to Little Rock to stand trial. Rather than sit the war out in jail– leaving his family with no protection– Lewis joined the Home Guard to fight insurgents, the very type of men he had tried to be. Made to join the Confederacy, come April, 1864, when he was forced to be away guarding, a Confederate Captain beat his wife to death in front their eleven year old son… more on what happened to Lewis in April 28.).

There is more. There’s something else: a number of citizens in the North did support secession. The reasons for specificity around geography are clear. Do not take these two vague geographic descriptors (North and South) as indications of the political loyalty of the total population of the opposing sides, the Union or the Confederacy. Nevertheless, you will encounter many instances in passages by historians where they use the shortcuts “North” and “South.” This, too, was common in period writings down time through the present. Americans have never stopped saying “The North” or “The South” and do intend these terms as monolith descriptors.

Note too, that although “the Union” & the “Union Army” are common descriptives in original source documents, then used thereafter by 20^th & 21^st century historians & pretty much the world, “Union” & “Union Army” are now replaced with terms like “Federal Government” or “U.S. Government,” at, say, Army University Press because they maintain “the Union Army isn’t a thing.” Back away slowly, do not make eye contact. Don’t whisper it in front of the 6,000 statues that have Union engraved in them. General Ulysses S. Grant used “Union” & “Union Army,” so that should be good enough for us. Who are we? We remain a Union of States, the United States, constantly seeking a more perfect Union. It’s still here & we’re still here. So it should be common sense that Union stands for the whole, that they can be conflated, that the Union Army refers to the overall body of men doing the fighting.

Rebels were clear on which ones were in the blue & shooting at them, & which ones were not. If we listen to what they had to say we have the war. Their words have been there from the start. It’s us who still wait to see them, not the other way around. Therein lies Whitman’s The Real War.

Thankfully, debate continues re censoring or otherwise replacing “Union” & “Union Army,” like it’s a throat that can be slashed to the bone with any weapon in reach, among historians (who rarely agree with each other anyway). And how far in the past do we have to put it– whatever it is– before we say it’s too far back to matter, just a giant dried blood spot? The Civil War will always matter to American democracy. In the Fall, 2021, issue of The Civil War Monitor (P. 39), Andrew F. Lang writes,

“The causes of Union and emancipation thus can never be divorced from the distinctive military forces raised in the Union’s defense. To jettison Union from our historical awareness is to misjudge the Civil War era and concede legitimacy to the Lost Cause. Though drawn from an intellectual heritage rooted in the nation’s founding, “Union” in the 19^th century meant different things to different Americans conditioned by generational change, political loyalty, and sectional identity. Most of them nevertheless shared a broad view of Union as a democratic republic ordered by law and constitutional procedure to organize a self-governing society based on natural rights and political equality. The privilege of representative government, most Americans believed, was but a mirage in most corners of the world. According to the statesman Daniel Webster in 1832, the founding generation created the Union to shield individual liberty from oligarchic exploitation or aristocratic privilege, an undertaking that “’has happened once in human affairs, and but once; the event stands out as a prominent exception to all ordinary history.’” The Union denoted much more than the national sovereignty of states and citizens bound by common customs and language.”

You have to ask what’s left other than what the citizens & soldiers & the enslaved had to say at the time? Not later, but as they were living it; do we want the Real War in these people’s words or not, 160 years later? It’s our call. I think everyone is clear who the Union & the Union Army are & were. Even horror films have a certain set of rules. So I refuse to alter their words, with all their qualificatory complexities that contain the full light the world appeared in to them while they lived time forward– not retrospectively backward like we do now when reading about the war–. These brave men & women approached the circumstance of war and secession, then put down on scraps of mud-stained paper who they fought for, with, against, & why. To preserve history by using terms in the manner in which people of the era intended them, & to stay clear on all terms’ specific definitions to citizens as they used them during the country’s founding– & not migrate meanings– is the least we can do to honor the dead. We owe them that much, at this late remove, no? Usage of any term that furthers the Lost Cause or alters an entire era’s nomenclature needs reconsidered, & if that doesn’t work, hang it. Jefferson Davis called his ‘Kingdom’ the “Confederate States of America,” & millions, in the end, suffered because he couldn’t form his mouth to say Union or United. Therefore, men with guns, mothers losing sons, & horses with hooves were the ones to carry on preservation of the nouns & adjectives. It cost those Southerners a lot. And they were going to take the rest of us down with them, never mind any shining city on a hill on a continent elsewhere. Let’s be real: these were people with a reptile on their flag, a palmetto tree with a wrapped-around treason hissing snake. Our American Revolution’s Don’t Tread On Me appropriated to a serpent coiled 3x, head up, slithery tongue out taunting, a forked tongue for a forked people. Such symbols mean nothing, how they can turn on themselves, when what remains is the thing that stands out the most, still standing: Lost Causers encyst the air with, & will not die down from, the belief it was somehow not a fair fight for the White man’s liberty. American Experiment their ass.

And as Fred Bauer writes in the National Review:

“In his funeral sermon for Abraham Lincoln, the minister Phineas Gurley did not once mention the “federal government” or even the “United States.” Instead, he spoke again and again about “union”: “through all these long and weary years of civil strife, while our friends and brothers on so many ensanguined fields were falling and dying for the cause of Liberty and Union.” If one of the goals of historical study is to capture the textures of past eras, erasing “the Union” and “the Union army” from historical discourse would make it harder to understand the passions and principles of those who risked their lives to preserve the American republic.” (“Army University Press: The ‘Union Army’ Is No More” 4/27/21)

Back to Lincoln: the reader should be aware of the degree to which President Lincoln, also a lawyer, used precision in his language. The Federal Government never legitimized any group of insurgents living in any State calling themselves “Confederates.” The U.S. Congress intentionally refused recognition of any governing body besides the one duly elected by American citizens via our Federal Constitution, the supreme law of the land, set down in detail for detail by the seated, constituted authorities then ratified June 21, 1788. No words on any other piece of parchment superceded the validity of this document. America, at no point, ceased being a Union of States; the South was simply a part of the landmass within the contiguous U.S. Only one country existed on April 12, 1861 (unless one counts, say, the Cherokee Nation, etc., which we should, but falls under a different species of law), so any Lost Cause rhetoric (numbers & resources, Hai Lee) is False Cause rhetoric to be disregarded for the lie it always was. And it was always a Lost Cause because there was nothing left to get back any of them ever had a right to; the Lost Cause a tale that comes to a full stop like a failed creation myth. Generations of fictions built on tradition built on fictions built on tradition. Infinite regression of horse thieves. David Blight calls the Lost Cause “a set of beliefs in search of a history.” Because the 11 States in contrived rebellion were never a separate nonunion entity run by any duly elected American President, no actual government existed except in Jefferson Davis’s delusional, despotic, minions, & minies cult fantasy that eventually devolved to a CONFEDERATE LIVES MATTER plane banner flown high out over Daytona Beach on a July 4^th, people waving at angles of trajectory calculated to keep the tag line going in the ash-gray uniform light of the South, a modern mock-up that uses Heritage Not Hate as the stand-in explanation for continuing to use a symbol from the worst 48 months out of four centuries since the White folk Columbused in.

And some say the stone cold fact is the South still came unnervingly close to being the dog dirty winner. And they will never forget that. This too is the Real War. But a white flag cannot be divided into something else without becoming something else. Shelby Foote: “I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its back…. I think that if there had been more southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought out that other arm out from behind its back. I don’t think the South ever had a chance to win that war.”

That said, I have included original source documents that display a wide variety of ideologies. These writings give a taste of the ground people of the times stood upon then ran across throughout the centuries surrounding the war. I prefer the reader be made aware these writings exist, rather than never encounter the like, yet believe her or himself informed about the societal & political pressures people of various races faced, & still do, in the country. The danger is, as time passes, that various of these writings will get harder to locate, & then eventually to even discover exist. That their weight and significance will become unrecognized, unrecognizable, even denied. It has been challenge enough to imagine what people of the 1861-1865 period felt, thought, and believed (Catton, Whitman, & Cash, plus the O.R. helped me most to get a sense of a scene rising up out of the words then into the room like a faint smoke lingering, even now, if you take a second & breathe it in; like historian Edward Ayers says, the only way he can “touch history” is through letters & diaries), what their daily ground of being actually was, because that era was so different from our time, our ‘location.’

These people have been in the ground a while. These are just the words they left behind. But this is history written by someone in that history as it commenced second-by-second. These people come walking out of the page. That puts it in the blood. It’s something in the blood here in these firsthand passages. You can feel it. It’s a grave below us, presence and absence combined. It was a world away, but it wasn’t that far back. Placing Ephraim’s diary in dialogue with a few principal actors of the Civil War, & crossing my fingers that it lives beyond us both, is the only way I can think up to salute the memory. To bear witness to what he has to say after a 22 mile march in 7 & 1/2 hours, for instance. To sit with what he meant by, “There was a retreat of them. We came back. There was some talk that Jackson was reinforced and that he would make a stand and there was no stand but we must be subject to the laws of our Government and sustain them there and have a Constitution or we perish and may the stars and stripes wave.”

And what it was for him to ride atop a train car through the Manassas Gap, smoke out the stack bothering him, & on the same day think to sit down then put in his diary, “There is a very bad stench there. The country looks quite level towards Cattells Station. The Bull run Battleground is roleing and I think the part I saw would not stope the famous Gen Shields Division in case he had men. They must leave their strong holds and flee to other parts of the Country. Over the country is very poor along this Rail Road. There is a grate deal of land woren out and is now a forest again. The land has been worked out by neglect and for the want of energy ambition but they have found the raising of Negroes more profitable and selling them to the more extreme Southern States and leaving their tilling of the land to Overseers and Negroes for the Productions.”

And how what he hoped would happen to the country actually worked out, with the understatement of the centuries: “I will try and look for better days and I hope that our land may be Union and peace and I trust that there will be no hard feeling in regard to this war after it is settled.”

No hard feeling.

Last, the passages I typed up here are a reflection of my time, my era writing this, what was accessible to me at the library, available at Amazon, or that I could find online as a nonhistorian then type up over the course of these four long years using OpenOffice Writer with a joke for an internet connection

on an old constantly freezing $200 used surplus BYU Dell laptop I bought on the side of a road in Provo, Utah. As Henry Steele Commager wrote in 1950 in his introduction to The Civil War Archive: The History of the Civil War in Documents (P. 35), “I could not put in everything; I could not even put in everything that was important. That is part of the story. The other part is that many of the things that interest us most did not appear to interest the generation that fought the war– or that read about it.” Commager included around 300 narratives in his incredible book that took him a decade to compile. That war: it’s so big, how can you write it? I don’t know, but I tried, despite continual roadblocks in access to basic materials.

“I could redo my entire three volumes on the Civil War without using one bit of source material I used the first time and probably come to very different conclusions” wrote Shelby Foote. Were I to redo this work in another decade, or century, it’s probable that completely other writings (including my own) would comprise the work. It’s my wish that people of the future– 2100, 2200, on up the line, even millennium– provided we’re still present & accounted for– retain as much as possible a felt sense of the true history of this tumultuous period in American history, the Real War, where Democracy could have crawled off to die. As it is, it remains tenuous.

What can be said beyond these early American folks stood for something? Died for something? Their sense of duty to their new nation was astounding. Something specifically American. The best of us that we have. The mass of those who sacrificed their lives remain pictureless, name-free to history. Yet they are why America exists. Men like Ephraim whose voice and war experience deserve to be preserved as part of the record. Obviously he thought so too, as he kept the diary all those years; he could have burned it, conveniently misplaced it, or never even bothered to write it. But he passed it down, & it made its unlikely way to me. Ephraim’s diary is detailed, revealing, candid. He recorded his thoughts not weeks or years later, but minutes or hours after battles, while the sulfurous odor of smoke lingered in his nose & the limbs he assisted in amputating piled up, & as the screams of the dying filled the wind, that he heard later, in his night dreams, probably for the remainder of his life. Throughout his diary he openly questions the violence as he grows weaker, weaker, starts referring to himself as “useless,” then finally reaches his literal point of no return, but his patriotism never wavers. At first he wants to see action: March 18 he goes in the direction of cannon sounds, within sight of the grate smoke: we took up courage and marched on quite fast we saw a grate smoke raise up and it was the Turnpike Bridge over Cedar Creek that the Confederates burnt that was the place where the fireing was done, though he writes that night that he had a cold, so shouldn’t have left camp hoping to see something. We can read the disappointment in his words. Disappointment at not seeing the elephant goes away fast, though, as soon as that circus arrives, asks for the men’s tickets. All aboard? Not quite. By May, June? He starts telling the pages he can’t take it anymore. One main mystery for me will always be what happened when he walked through his front door unexpectedly, no notice, even though he could have got word to his wife & relatives at the farm in 2 days he was headed back there, because the mail was faster then than now…. He was a purposeful man, so he must have had his reasons for giving no warning he was on his way back north to his Sinking Valley, PA. farmstead….

And Ephraim’s words are in opposition to Shelby “Believe me no soldier on either side gave a damn about the slaves” Foote’s outdated, cynical insistence no man fought to free the slaves. It hits the page different now, in a faded light, like so much media that stokes racial division. Hey, it sells, right? But my grandfather got his facts by being there, telling us why he was there, then writing about it every last night of Jackson’s Campaign. It can be hard to know a moment of history when you’re in one but he obviously did. And Ephraim couldn’t have been the one & only Northerner fighting to both free the slaves & to keep the Union in one piece. Like a Confederate banknote of varying degrees of soundness, the theories about Union soldier motivation come and go. It is unfortunate the myth Union soldiers never gave a damn about Black people became so widespread, as if the whole affair were homicidal violence of undetermined etiology, gladiator entertainment perhaps. You can see the alteration process right in the records as you go through the decades. Just look at Google’s search terms over the different decades. The story is there. It was about creating and producing a new kind of narrative in each era of each century. To add insult to injury, what historians tend to emphasize mutes the lesser known lived soldier & civilian experiences like those of my grandfather.

What Caused the Civil War: Reflections on the South and Southern History Edward L. Ayers P. 134

“Southern white men did not fight for slavery; they fought for a new nation built on slavery. White Northerners did not fight to end slavery; they fought to defend the integrity of their nation. Yet slavery, as Abraham Lincoln later put it, “somehow” drove everything.”

Slavery. 3.5 billion dollars in the 4 million five hundred thousand Black people & the 4 million cotton bales, & sugar, the rice, that tobacco all sitting right there the night the Star of the West got fired upon. Who fired? The ones with all that. There you have it. If you look at the Secession Ordinances, it’s dead simple that the words in them do as well as any words could, and better than any words we can say now, 160 years after their appearance: It’s in Ordinances. It’s in them, their Constitutions, the Southern politician’s speeches, the Declarations of Causes. Like massive blood evidence. Texas has one. Mississippi has one. They all have one. They fought for exactly what they said they fought for. So in that way, the Real War is right in those books. Where else is truth? Even if it’s one sentence long. Which it is. In very clear English. From Alexander Stephens’ Cornerstone Speech March 21, 1861: “African slavery as it exists among us– the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.” “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”

For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War James M. McPherson P. 174-175

“After marching up and down the Shenandoah Valley a couple hundred miles in Sheridan’s 1864 campaign, the last twenty-five miles barefooted, a private in the 54^th Pennsylvania wrote to his wife from the hospital that he was ready to do it again if necessary, for “I cannot believe Providence intends to destroy this Nation, this great asylum for the oppressed of all other nations and build a slave oligarchy on the ruins thereof.’”

Ayers again, P. 178:

“The personal and public struggles involved in that multifarious conflict were more complicated than any of the categories historians have devised to explain them.”

April 9, 1865. As if it could get set right with two men’s signatures. It couldn’t. There’s something still lying out there in an unmarked grave. In a puff of smoke left swirling to the ground in the corner of a room the size of Appomattox. And that’s where we are. In the interstices. So welcome to the Infinite Jest of the American Civil War if you made it this far.

The rationale for the form: knowing that giving Ephraim’s diary to any historical society or archive would ensure it died a dusty box death then eventually get tossed in a dumpster, I chose to expand out with writings in addition to Ephraim’s, to reach any readers. The hope is that Ephraim stands a better chance of lasting long after we’re both dead. That someone in a future era discovers his words in the back end of the internet and carries them somehow, some way, forward. The dead will be there when we get there. For now, we’re still here, living over graves; we’re still six feet above ground & the ones who died are still dead & we can do nothing about what happened among the dead. The mass of those who sacrificed their lives remain pictureless, name-free to history. Yet they are why America exists.

Ephraim Burket. That he did it for God and Country wasn’t his cliché, because he had no cliché. He had God & he had country, in that order. He is only remembered now because he left a diary behind. No one will say his name. They will say Sherman’s, Jackson’s, Lee’s, but not his. 

“I entirely and with perfect good faith consider the issues growing out of the war, or rather the issues that led to it, or which brought it about, as practically settled and disposed of.​”
— Former Confederate Major General John G. Walker, 1866​

On Style:

I keep originals wherever possible in their original form on the page. Especially with the NYT, Soldiers of Blair County, & other older writings there will appear numerous (what we would consider) mistakes. Besides relaying these passages accurately, these ‘mistakes’ add to the period milieu. I did move some punctuation marks in closer to the words they’ve appeared right after, like semicolons ; (the old style had a space between a semicolon & the word just prior to it). In other instances, I left them as they are (i.e., Letter to John Brown), so spacing, etc. may variously appear as it did in the original. The second image below is the German “Kurrent” style, which is found in era writings.

My grandfather never once used a period to end the last sentence of any of his 127 entries, as if to assure the diary he would be back. I have used his original spelling except in a couple instances where the word would be unintelligible without alteration. I preserved his stylings when he wrote out each day’s date, so there is much variation in how he puts the day, month, and year to start out each day’s diary entry. His punctuation at the start of each entry, too, has wild variation, as does it throughout the entries themselves, all 21,429 words’ worth.

From the mid-1700s through the 1800s, the American handwriting (penmanship) style was called Copperplate, or English Round Hand. Capital letters had flourishes, & Ephraim’s letters S, W, M, Y, F, Q, G, as they started sentences, were more elaborate than the remainder of his letters in his sentences. In a few instances, such as June 9 (Battle of Port Republic), he packs into the space between two blue lines on the paper two lines of his writing, not just one. This is unusual, as he had a full quarter of the page left blank where he could have used the space. His squished-in words June 9 start out, “The shells came very close to me today. The destruction of Life was grate.” He smashes these words into half their size & space they would ordinarily appear in, as if he didn’t want to have to write the words, to have those thoughts, live in a reality where this was happening, but thought he should record what happened anyway. The diary itself contains, to this very hour, more blank pages than written in, so squishing letter like sardines reflects either his psychological state, or he sat at a weird angle where his hand wasn’t free to move like usual.

Note: There is still time to turn back; why read all this, when you can just just watch it on your device. No, really: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCgi9BNjj6c

And to skip the whole war shebang, go to https://www.abhmuseum.org/about/what-is-the-black-holocaust/

Notes & Errata:

The afterparty, or afterstory, contains a repository of notes & errata, digressions that are also part of the story.

All days have notes, or addendums, toward the end of entries which correspond to or expound upon on that day’s entry. These various notes fall under explications, evolutions, devolutions, melanges, hallucinations, tribulations, prognostications, permeations & permutations, werewolfian shapeshiftings, uncanny valleys, elisions, ellipses, handprints on cave walls, lizard scales, lost causes, fox tracks more than necessary, wolf tracks in the meantime, blood sacrifices, denotations, connotations, lists, minglings, dots of formica on a counter, specters, whispers & innuendoes, multiverses, gruel, hybrid gatherings, varietals, off-scourings of 3^rd realms, unleashings, lassoes, crow calls, trail dust, high up wind through sequoias, the sound of Taps far off, paper trails, smoke signals, bat signals, gauges, strips of gold nuggets, masking tape, alien visitations, boll weevil droppings, punched tickets, train tracks, derailments, reckonings, light readings, conspiracy theories, reunited letters of sentences that never should have been separated, epistles, stipulations, pacts, recognitions, exegeses, glosses, hearkens, extensions, annexations, augmentations, frills, bows, appendages, adornments, accents, Cicada guts, horse entrails mutating, accretions, agglomerations, intensifications, collections, stacks, chunks, prizes, parcels, lotteries, redemptions, salvages, games, recoveries, retrievals, winnings, codicils, postscripts, structures, wings, accessories to crimes, appurtenances, launch pads, pieces of flesh & bone marrow, horse tears & mules braying, growths, communiques, missives, sounds of whips, slave curses, hauntings, thunder & lightning, accessions, highlights, infusions, recordals, holdings, appendices, doorways, entrants, exits blocked off, listings, novelties, remittances, layers, clusters, doses, enclosures, deliverables, bonuses, injunctions, creations, linkages, appetizers, nutrients, hikes, the low growl pitch of psalms in human voices still trying to get to you, 160 years after. They’re adjudications, negotiations, avowals, settlements, stipulations, covenants, & baby creatures with huge foreheads & eyes who just need your love, 160 years later.

A Note on Footnotes:

Note: Painfully soon, this passage will be one century old:

The Historian’s Craft Marc Bloch (1953) P. 87-88

“A misunderstanding between historical inquiry, such as it is or hopes to be, and the reading public unquestionably does exist. The great debate about footnotes is not the least significant ground upon which the two parties are engaged in their absurd duel.

For a great many scholars, the lower margin of the page exerts a fascination bordering upon mania. It is surely absurd to overcrowd these margins, as they do, with bibliographical references which might largely have been spared by a list drawn up at the beginning of the volume; and worse will, through sheer laziness, to relegate them to long explanations whose proper place was indicated in the main body of the text, so that the most useful part of these works must be looked for in the cellar. But when certain readers complain that a single note, strutting along by itself at the foot of the page, makes their heads swim, or when certain publishers complain that their customers, doubtless less hypersensitive in reality than they would have us believe, are tortured by the mere sight of a page thus disfigured, these aesthetes merely prove their imperviousness to the most elementary maxims of an intellectual ethic. For, apart from the free play of imagination, we have no right to make any assertion which cannot be verified and a historian who in using a document indicates the source as briefly as possible (that is, the means of finding it again) is only obeying a universal rule of honesty. Corrupted by dogma and myth, current opinion, even when it is least hostile to enlightenment, has lost the very taste for verification. On that day when, having first taken care not to discourage it with useless pedantry, we shall succeed in persuading the public to measure the value of a science in proportion to its willingness to make refutation easy, the forces of reason will achieve one of their most smashing victories. Our humble notes, our finicky little references, currently lampooned by many who do not understand them, are working toward that day.”

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